


Baby Fever

by PrincessCharming



Series: Flu Love's Kiss series [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, F/F, Family, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Romance, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-29
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-09 22:07:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/778510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessCharming/pseuds/PrincessCharming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina goes into labor at her baby shower and her magic goes haywire causing earthquakes all over Storybrooke. Someone else wants the baby and Emma has to make a deal that might just cost her the thing that brought her and Regina together. Swan Queen (Sequel to Flu Love's Kiss).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The shakes

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to Flu Love's Kiss and will contain references to that story but it's mostly readable on it's own as well. Usual disclaimer applies. Enjoy!
> 
> FLK recap: After the curse broke, a magical illness called Love Flu caused various Storybrooke couples to be stuck together by the hands, including Emma and Regina. Regina was secretly in love with Emma, who was not-so-secretly attracted to her. Regina only admitted her secret when Dr Whale sought them out looking for the strongest heart of all, which belonged to Emma since she'd made her own heart as hard as marble to protect herself from falling in love again. Once they defeated Whale and were cured of Love Flu, Emma convinced Regina into giving their relationship a chance, promising that her heart would catch up to hers and they married shortly after.

_Four years after the Love Flue epidemic_

Toothpaste dripped onto Emma's shirt when she looked up to see reflected in the bathroom mirror her heavily pregnant wife standing in the doorway crying.

"What's wrong? Is it time-"

"No," Regina sobbed in annoyance. "We don't have enough baby wipes!"

Emma almost choked on her toothbrush trying not to laugh. Regina with 'baby brain' was infinitely amusing, not that she ever would ever say that out loud for fear of losing a limb. That very morning Regina had already put the milk in the cupboard and the grapes in the microwave. There was a huge pile of supplies in the nursery for the baby already... Emma tried not to fathom out the pregnant-woman logic of this latest 'disaster' too much.

"Er, can't we just buy more?" said Emma thickly, spitting out the toothpaste into the sink.

"Emma, shut up," snapped Regina, turning on her heel.

The mirror in front of Emma split with a loud crack making her jump. Wasn't breaking a mirror considered bad luck or something? Emma sighed and wiped her mouth on a towel, thinking of how difficult today was going to be for her wife.

It wasn't just the pregnancy hormones that were getting to Regina. Her magic had been going haywire ever since they'd found out she was finally pregnant after months of trying. Regina had vowed against doing any magic on purpose while she was pregnant (just in case) but her powers were still manifesting in different ways to curious effect. Like Emma's police cruiser ending up on the roof of the Sheriff's Station.

That one had been one of the funnier and less dangerous outcomes.

And today was the baby shower which Mary Margaret had insisted upon throwing for them. With her unpredictable magic and being this late into her pregnancy, Regina was reluctant to go out so they were holding the party at home.

Emma was just putting on a fresh shirt when she heard the doorbell ring downstairs signalling the arrival of guests. She was relieved to hear her wife answering the door, sounding completely recovered.

* * *

It wasn't so much a shower of gifts as a downpour. Emma gave an internal cheer every time one of the gift baskets included baby wipes.

Most of the clothes and toys were gender-neutral since they hadn't told anyone the sex of the baby - only Regina knew it because Emma wanted it to be a surprise this time since she'd found out when she was pregnant herself. Her mother's present had suitably covered the practical side of things for the baby, which was great, but Emma had a sneaking suspicion that there were a bunch of very-pink and very-blue things at home still with store tags on them - only one of the colour schemes would be returned to the shops.

Everyone awwwed in unison as an impossibly small white onesie with a red apple in applique on the front was unwrapped.

"It's so tiny," gushed Mary Margaret.

Granny chuckled. "Oh, they grow quick enough believe me."

There weren't many attending the party, and apart from Ruby and Kathryn, all of the women were mothers so the discussions centered around fond memories.

"When my Timothy was born he was too small for any of the clothes in the layette I prepared," said Mrs Montague nostalgically. "He's taller than I am now!"

"I remember when I was pregnant with Emma… but she didn't get to wear any of her clothes," said Mary Margaret wistfully with a hint of sadness. She stopped herself from going too much further though, it was bordering on dangerous territory and she truly didn't want to upset Regina today of all days by bringing up the past.

"Is it just me," said Ruby to her friend. "Or is it still really weird to think of Emma coming out of your-"

"RUBY!" chastised Granny.

"What?! _It is!_ "

Mary Margaret laughed and looked at her grownup daughter fondly. "Yes, but she's definitely mine, she has my chin. Emma used to kick me in the ribs all night."

"So she was trouble even back then?" Kathryn raised her eyebrows.

"Okaaay," interrupted Emma to get the focus off of herself. "How about we do another present?"

She got up off the couch and fetched another box from the gift table to hand to Regina, but as she turned around she saw them all staring at her.

"Wha- GAH!" Emma cried, looking down at her near-naked self. Suddenly all of her clothes had disappeared leaving her standing there in her underwear.

Ruby whistled at her.

"Regina, fix this," whined Emma, trying to fold her arms across her body. "Oh my god. This is like one of those bad dreams where you walk into an exam naked isn't it? Except it's real."

"I didn't mean to," Regina frowned and disappeared into the kitchen.

Emma's clothes reappeared and she ducked into the kitchen to follow after her wife.

* * *

"Are you ok, Gi?" said Emma concerned, hanging through the arch that led to the kitchen.

Regina started wide-eyed at being caught with a cookie in her mouth.

"Hey!" cried Emma, playfully. "I thought you came in here cos you were upset … and here you are getting stuck into the Honey Jumbles. Ooh that one has pink icing, does that mean the baby's a girl?"

"No."

"Then it's a boy?"

"No."

"An alien then."

"The sex of the baby is I'm-not-telling-you. It's a secret, just like you wanted."

Emma came up behind her and tried to reach for a cookie from the tray. "Maybe I changed my mind. Gimme."

"No." Regina swatted her hand away. "These are mine."

Emma smirked and pressed herself against her wife, as close as the bump would allow. "All of them?"

"Yes, dear," Regina said in a low voice. "They're all mine."

"Just like me," Emma whispered and threaded her hand through Regina's hair, bringing their lips together. She could taste the ginger from the Jumbles and deepened the kiss hungrily. A thrill ran through her causing a shiver when she felt Regina begin to respond fully, which hadn't happened in a long time. Regina pulled away with a sudden gasp and extricated herself swiftly, and Emma tried hard not to be hurt by it yet again.

"You having an ok time with the party?" asked Emma with a weak smile.

"Yes," sighed Regina. "I'm just uncomfortable."

"Your back hurting again?"

Regina nodded and accepted the caress against her cheek.

"Not long now, it'll be over before you know it," said Emma reassuringly.

* * *

The party was winding down and most of the guests had either left already or were in the process of leaving. Ethel Montague had left earlier to pick up her son Tim from soccer and Ruby and Granny left to prepare for dinner rush at the diner. Mary Margaret and Kathryn were staying afterward to help clean up the explosion of wrapping paper and remains of the food table.

"Regina, do you want us to take all the gifts up to the nursery?" asked Kathryn, putting a bunch of things into a pile.

"Uhm, I don't know," murmured Regina vaguely, her eyes a bit unfocused.

Mary Margaret frowned at her. "Regina, are you feeling ok?"

Emma came back in from the kitchen from where she'd been carting in the large trays of leftover food that Henry and David would no doubt devour later.

"I think we had enough food," Emma chuckled, but her smile dropped seeing Mary Margaret's concern.

All of a sudden the ground began to slide and shake underneath them. Picture frames came down off the walls and the lighting fixtures crashed to the floor as the entire building began to move.

"What's going on?" cried Mary Margaret.

"It's an earthquake." Emma recognised the event from those she'd experienced when living in LA. She scanned the ceiling and the sliding furniture to assess the magnitude of the danger.

"An earthquake in Storybrooke?!" said Kathryn, unable to help falling to her knees.

Emma made a grab for Regina but nearly fell off her feet with the others as the tremors continued. Her brow creased, wondering why Regina herself was standing still apparently able to balance despite the shifting ground.

The table slid into the wall with a bang, taking the chairs with it.

"Gi, are you ok? We gotta go - Regina?!"

Regina moaned in pain and bent over slightly, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Emma," gasped Kathryn, watching Regina's face carefully with wide eyes. "I think she's in labour."

* * *

David and Henry were at the Sheriff's station when all the phone lines started ringing at once. Within 30 seconds they felt the tremors shake the building.

"Henry!" cried David reaching to grab the teen's shoulder.

"What's going on!" called Henry over the rumbling noise as the furniture scraped across the floor.

"I don't know! Stay away from the windows… get in a doorway, Henry."

The tremors stalled but the phones continued to ring. David grabbed the first line and listened to the frightening calls one by one.

"What's going on," said Henry urgently once David hung up.

"That was Emergency Services. Power's out all over the town and there's reports of trees and debris over all the main thoroughfares."

"Is it bad?"

"I don't know, the guys said they're expecting a lot of rescues..."

Henry's face lit up with worry. "We have to call home. To check on Mom and the baby."

David pulled out his phone and pressed send. "Come on, Emma, pick up… Pick up!"

" _David!"_ Emma finally answered but the panic in her voice alarmed him immediately.

"Emma, are you guys oka-"

" _No! We need an ambulance!"_

"What's wrong? Is anyone hurt."

" _It's Regina. She's in labour. I don't know what to do! We have to get her to a hospital."_

"Emma, listen, the roads are blocked from the earthquake…"

" _WHAT?!"_

"I just spoke to Emergency Services. They're trying their best but there's a lot of calls already… how far along is she?"

" _Pretty fucking far along! Contractions are only a minute apart."_

David slammed his fist on the desk, feeling helpless. Even he knew that meant they were out of time. "Emma, is Mary Margaret there?"

" _Yes, and Kathryn too."_

"Ok, stay where you are. I'm bringing Henry and we're going to try to get to you and pick up Dr Reed on the way ok? Put your Mom on."

" _David,"_ sighed Mary Margaret over the phone.

"Mar, tell me how bad this is – is Emma just panicking? Is there any reason to think that Regina and the baby are in danger? Apart from the earthquake."

" _David, there really is no time. The baby's coming now. We need help."_

David clenched his fist around the handset. "Ok. Get Regina comfortable, get first aid, get whatever's in the house… if Henry and I can't get there in time with the doctor, get Reed on the phone and have him talk you through this ok? We'll be there as soon as we can."

David hung up quickly and gave the teen a small grin. "Henry, we gotta go home. Your baby brother or sister is on the way!"


	2. Lightning-fast

Emma helped Regina upstairs to their bedroom and got her into bed. Her contractions were still coming hard and fast and she wouldn't let Emma leave her side. Mary Margaret and Kathryn brought in a bunch of towels and whatever they could find that would be useful. The town's obstetrician Dr Reed was on speaker phone giving them instructions as best he could.

Emma sat with her back against the headboard of the bed holding Regina in front of her. She gripped her hand with white knuckles and the other hand was fisted in the bedsheets. Emma murmured encouragements in her ear.

"You're doing great, gorgeous. Soon our baby will be in your arms..."

"This was your idea." Regina clenched her teeth against the pain.

"Last chance for a spoiler! Is it a boy or a girl?"

Regina panted with the effort of trying to talk with no breath left. "I can't believe you'd - try to get it out of - me when I'm labouring!"

Emma placed a kiss in her hair near her temple. "Love you, Gi."

"I hate it when you call - me that."

Kathryn moved the bottom of the bedsheet up while after Reed finished talking. "Regina honey, I just have to check how it's going, ok."

A loud crash from outside and a light that split the sky made them all jump.

"I think lightning just struck in the yard," cringed Mary Margaret, holding a receiving blanket across her forearms.

" _Well, this is one lightning-fast kid,"_ chuckled Dr Reed's voice, coming over the tinny speaker.

The doctor gave the ok to push and Emma shifted Regina to the edge of the bed in front of Kathryn.

"Ok here we go!"

* * *

Kathryn whisked the baby away with Mary Margaret so they could check the infant over according to Reed's instructions. The short punctuated cries were reassuring and the baby's colour, reflex, and tone all looked good. They would have to get to a hospital soon for proper medical care however.

"Please, give her to me," pleaded Regina breathlessly.

"Guys, can you hurry it up," said Emma, getting anxious on behalf of her wife. She smoothed Regina's sweaty hair out of her face and let her wife lay back against her in exhaustion.

Mary Margaret swaddled the baby and carefully placed the bundle in Regina's grateful arms.

"It's a boy," announced Kathryn to the new parents.

Emma smiled joyfully but Regina surprised them with her shocked face. "What?! But Dr Reed said she was supposed to be a girl!"

"Maybe this little guy was shy on the sonograms?" suggested Kathryn with a smile.

Regina started to panic and shook her head. "No. No. Emma, you have to take the baby!"

"Everything's ok. We'll get to hospital as soon as we can," soothed Emma.

"No, you have to take him!"

Emma looked at her wife in alarm. "Gi, you're scaring me."

A figure materialised in the corner of the room, an all-too-familiar form seemingly appearing out of nowhere. He wore his usual suave black suit with accents in the tie and pocket and leaned on a silver-tipped cane with both hands.

"Congratulations on the birth of your son, Your Majesty."

"Gold," Regina growled protectively and held the baby closer.

"What the hell are you doing here?" demanded Emma.

"I'm here for that baby," said Gold, pointing at the child to clarify the one he meant, as though there were any other in the room for it to be confused with.

"What!" spat Emma.

"A deal's a deal."

"What deal?!" yelled Emma, causing the baby to cry out in fear in halting mewls.

"Sorry, dearies. It's naptime."

Gold waved his hand in the air and Emma slumped unconscious where she was. Mary Margaret and Kathryn slid to the floor in identical fainting thuds.

Regina glared at him tearfully with pure hatred burning in her eyes. "I'll kill you for this."

Gold regarded her casually as though she amused him. "Hell hath no fury? The phrase could've been invented for you, Regina."

"Please no!"

Regina gasped in shock when her baby disappeared out of her arms and vanished into a cloud of purple smoke. Gold left with the little boy as quick as he'd come.

When Emma and the others regained consciousness, Regina was lying on her side sobbing uncontrollably in pain. The baby was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Henry and David jogged up Mifflin St. Some of the roads were still blocked so they'd driven as far they could and then decided to go the rest of the way on foot since it wasn't that far. Thankfully ambulances were getting through now but they were overwhelmed with calls. David slowed to a march so that he could field calls from Emergency Services updating him on the situation.

Water mains had burst on Main, Second, and Third Streets. Power was still out in various parts of the town. The tremors had stopped thankfully, but some buildings had taken a fair bit of damage. There were no reports of any actual deaths so far, but David didn't want to put too much hope into it since there were a number of people reported unaccounted for.

"What's causing this?" David wondered in frustration as he hung up the phone.

"Mom's magic has been going haywire... maybe it's that?" suggested Henry, trying to keep pace with the taller man.

"If it is... let's hope the baby comes before she destroys half the town."

When the pair of them got to the house, they ran upstairs calling out but received no answers. David checked the upstairs bedroom and the somber mood of the women inside filled him with a sickening sense of dread. His first thought sent chilling terror down his spine, that the baby hadn't survived.

Mary Margaret was kneeling in front of the bedside next to Kathryn, they were both trying to comfort Regina. Emma sat on the edge on the opposite far side with her head in her hands and her back to the door.

"Mom?" Henry went straight to Regina but she squeezed her eyes shut at the sight of him.

"What happened?" said David to Mary Margaret in bewilderment. "Where's the baby?"

Mary Margaret gave him the saddest look he'd ever seen and explained what'd happened with a single word. "Rumpelstiltzskin."

David's heart sank like lead into his stomach as he realised what must've happened. Gold must've taken the baby. It certainly explained the devastation written all over his daughter and her wife. But why? He vowed silently that they would do whatever it took to get the newest member of their family back.

Emma spoke up in a monotone voice. "Regina needs to go to the hospital."

Kathryn wrapped the cover from the bed around Regina so that David could lift her carefully into his arms, taking her downstairs to the car. Regina didn't make a sound of protest, merely laying her head weakly on his shoulder.

In the driveway Emma and Henry watched them settle into the car and buckle up. "We'll follow you in my Bug. Meet you there."

Mary Margaret sat in the back with Regina, and David and Kathryn sat in the front as they pulled out of the driveway. Emma watched the car slowly make it's way down the street.

"We're not going to the hospital are we," said Henry.

"No, kid," said Emma grimly. "We're not."

* * *

Emma kicked open the door to Gold's pawn shop and it slammed against the wall shattering each of the panes of glass. The bell rang with a bright ding as it crashed to the floor. She and Henry scanned the empty room quickly and then they heard a baby cry out in the back.

"GOLD!" screamed Emma, striding for the back of the shop. "WHERE'S MY SON?!"

She ran through the doorway to see Mr Gold sitting in a chair holding a bottle for the newborn to suck on. But the baby was crying in distress and refusing to suckle. The sound of the cries set every nerve of Emma's on edge as the protective instinct rose to a furour inside her.

"What do you want with our son!" demanded Emma, when Gold noticed them.

"A Mills first-born son. That was the deal."

"I don't care about your stupid deal!" said Emma fiercely. "The baby needs to go to the hospital. He needs his mother. See, he won't even eat. He won't thrive without her. Please, I'm begging you."

"There are consequences to breaking a deal, dearie," warned Gold.

Emma inhaled heavily. "Fine. Then we'll make a new deal."

"What do you have to offer."

Emma wanted to scream at him, she had nothing to bargain with of course. "What do you want?"

"Another child," said Gold, with a significant look towards the teen at Emma's side. "Henry for the baby."

Horror filled her at what he seemed to be implying. "Choose between my sons? You can't ask me to make such a disgusting choice."

"And yet I just did. The choice is yours. Make sure it's the right one."

_The baby or Henry... Regina... The baby or Henry... Regina... The baby..._

Emma felt sick and closed her eyes before whispering. "Deal."

She grabbed Henry's arm and started reassuring him furiously. "Henry, I'm gonna get you back if it's the last thing I do - I promise - nothing will stop me - but I have to do this -"

Henry nodded to interrupt her. "Mom! Mom, I know! It's the right choice. Take my baby brother home."

"Henry, whatever happens-"

"I'll be fine and I'll find you again I promise. This is what big brothers do."

Henry lifted his chin proudly and his bravery almost broke her heart in two. At fourteen years old he stood nearly as tall as Regina now but he was all gangly limbs like Emma herself had been when she was growing up and his hair was cut short like David's. He had run away at only ten and brought Emma to Storybrooke, starting a chain reaction of events that eventually led Emma and Regina to each other. Now he was going to pay the price of the deal for whatever Gold wanted with him, and she was terrified of losing her son.

Henry took the crying bundle from Gold and handed him over to Emma. The teen placed a kiss on his baby brother's forehead and whispered goodbye.

"I'll see you soon, Emma. Tell Mom I love her."

Purple smoke swirled around the boy and the man until they disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Emma pushed the clear plastic pram/trolley holding her baby son into Regina's hospital room where the brunette was sleeping with a frown on her face. The baby was fine and Emma had almost cried with relief when the ER doctor checked him out. He was a little small but there were no problems so far. He was healthy. Beautiful. Safe.

Emma sat on the bed gently and took Regina's hand in hers in their favourite way, the way they'd been joined when they'd been stuck together by Love Flu.

Regina stirred and her eyes fluttered open tiredly. "Emma?"

The baby mewled and Regina's eyes snapped immediately to her son. "My baby! How did you get him back?"

Emma was saved from having to explain by the appearance of Dr Reed knocking on the door coming to check on them all.

"Hi, you three. A bit of excitement we've had today haven't we," said the kind middle-aged doctor.

"Is Regina ok?" Emma asked him anxiously.

"Yes, don't worry Mommy," he smiled at Emma. "Mommy and the bub are both doing well."

"But - she's ok right - I mean, she gave birth at home like it's the year 1815 or something and we didn't have any idea what we were doing-"

Dr Reed nodded reassuringly. "Yes, everything is fine considering all that. The baby is a bit on the small side but not too underweight, that was why we were intending to induce Regina next week in the first place."

Emma shot her wife a confused look. "Induce? What- Why didn't you tell me?"

"I forgot," said Regina, avoiding her wife's worried eyes.

Emma paused, pushing aside her own feelings. "It's okay. Um, Dr Reed? Could I have a word in the hall? About the - insurance forms - you know."

Regina's eyes narrowed suspiciously as Emma led the doctor outside her room and shut the door.

Emma glanced sideways and lowered her voice to Reed. "What is going on? Is there something you're not telling me? Is my wife really ok?"

Dr Reed nodded yet again. "Yes, Emma. I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't aware of the birth plan for next week. Because of her slight build and the fact that the baby was also small I thought it best to be safe."

"I wasn't at the last appointment... are you saying my wife forgot to tell me when our son was going to be born? She _forgot_? Does that make sense to you?"

Reed placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Emma, she may have. But I am concerned about her. It's perfectly normal to have mood changes after delivery, but you must keep an eye on her in case it develops into post-natal depression."

Emma rubbed a hand over her eyes and spoke half to herself. "Our son, Henry, is missing. She doesn't know. What am I going to tell her?"

She thanked Reed again for his understanding and went back into the hospital room where Regina was staring sightlessly at the baby.

"Emma, how did you get the baby back."

Panic attacked Emma's lungs and seized her breath, she had to fight down nausea. "I made a deal. I traded Henry for the baby."

"What have you done!" cried Regina. "You gave that man our son?!"

The baby woke in fright and started to cry loudly.

"They're both our sons, what was I supposed to do? The baby needs you-"

"Emma," said Regina with cold fury. "Get out."

Emma obeyed on shaky legs, bursting out of the room and into the hall. She saw her parents who had returned from getting dinner, but she went right past them. She wasn't going to make it to the bathroom so she grabbed the nearest bin and threw up.


	3. By any other name

David set a cup of coffee on the table and then went to sit next to Emma in the near-empty cafeteria. She had her elbows on her knees, resting her chin on her hands, staring intently into space. They were taking a break from waiting around outside Regina's hospital room like they had been ever since she had been admitted that evening.

"How are you doing?" said David, rubbing a hand across Emma's back.

"Worried about my family," said Emma tonelessly. "Regina. The baby. Henry."

David noticed that she hadn't really answered the question he'd asked. "We'll find him."

"I know, it's just -" Emma scrubbed her hands over her drawn face. "How could I do this? I gave him up - again!"

"This is nothing like the last time, I think you know that."

"Yes, this is worse. Because I knew what I was doing when I made the deal. I gave him over to some evil bastard who has god-knows-what in mind. Regina is never gonna forgive me for this. I can't forgive myself. If anything happens to Henry-"

David drew his daughter to his side in a hug and just held her. He had to admit, though he hated the thought, he had the same unspoken fears for the marriage between his daughter and her wife. Not many a couple could stand to lose a child and stay together.

"You guys are strong. You'll pull through this," said David.

"How do you deal with it," wondered Emma wearily.

"What?"

"Losing a child."

"I don't know," David admitted grimly and raised one shoulder. "I guess you just-"

"We're not gonna make it are we," said Emma suddenly, voice clouding with tears.

David sighed internally, thinking of three women in his life. Mary Margaret, Emma, and Regina had more in common than ever before. They were all mothers who had lost a baby one way or another shortly after giving birth.

He patted Emma's shoulder and indicated for her to get up and follow him. He knew what his daughter needed right now.

* * *

Mary Margaret poked her head through the door to Regina's hospital room, checking to see if she was awake this late. The hospital staff were being really lenient with regards to visiting hours but only after Emma had taken to flashing her badge around them. The pixie-haired woman went over to sit by the bed and then realised why Regina was sitting up and holding the baby to her chest with a light sheet draped over her shoulder.

"Oh! Sorry, do you want me to go?" Mary Margaret whispered.

"Please, stay."

Mary Margaret smiled gently. "Of course. How is my little grandson enjoying the world so far?"

Regina bit her lip anxiously. "He won't feed."

"Oh well, he's still learning. Do you want me to go get Emma. Or the nurse?"

Regina firmly indicated no and fixed her gown back up.

"How can you forgive me," asked Regina, gazing down into her baby's lovely face.

"Forgive you for what?" Mary Margaret asked carefully, not sure if the new mother was talking to the baby or her. Emma had warned her and David about keeping an eye on Regina's state of mind.

"Was it like this for you?"

"I don't understand."

"I ripped your child out of your arms at birth... why aren't you happy that I know how it feels now?"

Mary Margaret was full of compassion for her daughter's wife but she was puzzled where this fixation on the past was coming from. "I would never wish that on anyone, least of all you."

But that wasn't reassuring and the guilt seeped from Regina's every pore. She didn't want to be hated but neither did she want to be forgiven so easily. It set her up against an impossible standard she thought she wasn't even deserving to be near. How could she hold Emma responsible for this when she herself had done much worse?

"Hey, have you two thought of a name yet?" asked Mary Margaret brightly.

Regina looked up, focussing on something distant. "Emma is going to name the baby. She picked one of each I think."

"Oh no. I'm not sure I'd trust my daughter to name anything... after all, she calls Henry 'kid' and she named her car 'Bug'."

Mary Margaret almost cheered upon seeing she'd earned a small wistful smile from Regina but she gaped at her next words.

"Then I suppose you don't want to know what she named my breasts."

The two women looked up when the door to her room opened and David came in with Emma, who was fidgeting nervously. Emma's eyes were immediately drawn to her wife and child. Green locked onto brown and held.

"Hi, gorgeous," Emma whispered hopefully.

* * *

"Where are we going Mr Gold?" asked Henry, looking away from the departures board at the airport. The domestic terminal was full of people darting about chaotically. Boarding announcements came over the PA but they were barely audible over the din.

"We're going to find my son," Gold stuffed a scarf into his bag.

"I didn't know you had a son."

Gold hid a sigh, thinking of long ago. "Before the curse, my son came to this land. I need to find him."

"But doesn't that mean he could be anywhere? How are we going to find him - magic?"

Gold gave the teen a wry look. "The internet."

Henry pumped his fist triumphantly. "Now THAT I can help with. Emma taught me everything she knows about finding people but I've got a few tricks too."

"You're a smart young man, Henry." Gold nodded at him once and went to go to the bathroom.

Henry grinned to himself and took a seat in the lounge. He checked over his shoulder first before pulling out his laptop and typing in a website in order to leave a breadcrumb.

"Yep, you have no idea what I'm capable of."

* * *

Regina had been in the hospital for four nights but she asked to be discharged on the fifth day to settle in at home. Dr Reed had given her and the baby the all-clear since she was recovering from the birth well, her mood seemed to be stable (taking into account her anxiety about Henry being missing) and since she was now nursing with no problems she was fine to leave.

Emma was still keeping as close an eye on her as possible although her priorities were divided and she felt like she was being pulled in all different directions. Every night she bullied the nurses into letting her stay at the hospital so she could help with Regina and the baby. During the day she would spend a few hours at the station with David overseeing the disaster recovery effort as well as trying to figure out what to do about Henry... but they both knew this wasn't just an ordinary case of a missing child. They knew exactly what'd happened to him and who had taken him. They just didn't know where he was or how to even start to look for him, given that Gold had all the power of magic at his fingertips.

Emma sat on Regina's hospital bed while her wife changed into the clothes she'd brought her from home. She flicked through the hospital discharge paperwork and pulled out one of the forms just as Regina came out of the bathroom dressed.

"You ok?" Emma eyed her face carefully.

"Yes, Emma," sighed Regina. "If you'd stop asking me every five minutes..."

"Ok, we gotta name this kid," said Emma after a while. She started to fill in the birth certificate while taking glances at the baby sleeping in the pram ready to go.

"With your unimaginative way of naming things I'm almost afraid to ask," said Regina, gathering up her things into the duffle bag Emma brought.

"Don't tempt me," said Emma with a little of their old playfulness and then announced what she'd had in mind for months.

"DJ."

Regina pinned a warning look on her. "Emma..."

Emma held up the birth certificate to show what she'd written for the name.

"His name is David James Mills?" said Regina.

Emma nodded. "I gave birth to Henry and you named him after your father. You gave birth to David James and I named him after mine. It has that thing."

"Symmetry?"

"Yep."

Regina lifted an eyebrow at her. "Emma, you do realise your father's real name is neither David nor James."

"I know, but he wouldn't tell me his actual name. I think he knew why I was asking. I bet his name is something weird. So unless you want our kid to be named 'Shepherd boy'..."

A knock sounded at the open door and they saw Ethel Montague there with her son, a blond fourteen year old who was taller than she was.

"Are visitors welcome?" Mrs Montague asked.

Emma smiled mildly. "Yes of course, thank you. We're not going to be here much longer though..."

"Oh we won't stay long! Tim just came to bring a gift and see if Henry was here or not."

The air between Regina and Emma cracked like a glacier at the mention of the topic that had been frozen between them for days. They'd avoided talking about it, each trying not to upset the other by bringing up what they couldn't do anything about. So they'd focussed on the baby instead.

Mrs Montague went over to coo at the sleeping baby in the pram and Tim handed a gift bag to Regina that was full of soft toys and stuffed balls with bells inside them.

"Congratulations, Mrs Mills," said Tim shyly. "Henry picked the toys too."

"That's very sweet, Tim," said Regina, forcing a bright smile.

"How come Henry's in New York?" asked Tim curiously.

Emma's heart leapt into her throat and she exchanged an urgent glance with Regina. "Tim, why do you think Henry's in New York?"

The teen shrugged and pulled out his oddly-sized iPhone to show Emma the screen. "He tweeted me yesterday, see?"

Emma took the phone with shaky hands. "Tim, I'm old. Explain this to me."

"Ok well, the bit that says tickingtimbomb is me and the rest is the message Henry wrote to me."

"All it says is 'BIG APPLE'?" said Emma, checking with the boy.

Tim shrugged again. "I thought it was weird him being there when the baby was coming. But it says 'posted near Times Square'..."

The iPhone beeped with a new message and Tim grabbed it back to scroll through to check it. "Look, he's just posted a new photo."

It was a photo Henry had taken of himself making a Rock On gesture with his hand, standing in front of a crowded intersection which Emma recognised immediately.

"That IS Times Square! What is he doing there?"

"He's ok?" breathed Regina, relieved to see evidence of her son. "Thankyou for showing this to us, Tim."

Thanks to his best friend they both knew now that Henry was ok (or at least alive and unhurt) but this raised more questions than it answered. Emma berated herself that she hadn't thought to check Henry's online accounts. She'd been so out-of-it operating on zero sleep, she couldn't think properly through the fatigue... wait, since when did Henry have a twitter? And how had he taken the photo? Emma had found his phone at home in his room after trying to call it. Her son was smiling happily in the photo - what was that kid up to?

What did Gold want with taking Henry to New York?


	4. The doldrums

The baby's cry rang piercingly in the middle of the night waking them both straight away. Half-asleep Emma bolted out of bed like she'd been waiting for it and lifted DJ out of the bassinet that was in her and Regina's room. She cradled the tiny baby in her arms and patted his diapered butt softly to check it.

"Hi there, my sweet little boy. Time for nom-noms is it?" whispered Emma. She went over to give DJ to Regina who was sitting up in bed tiredly adjusting the clip of her shirt.

Emma sat on the edge next to Regina's side of the bed and watched her wife nurse the baby in the soft glow of the nightlight.

"You look so beautiful right now, you have no idea," sighed Emma.

"I didn't get to do this with Henry," murmured Regina, stroking the baby's superfine hair as he suckled quietly.

"Me either. He was bottle-fed from the start."

"You may get your chance one day."

Emma's mouth curled. "Let's wait until we can keep the kids we already have under the same roof before we think about the next one. Besides, _I_ am not doing that again. You got off easy, I was eight hours with Henry."

"I gave birth at home."

"I gave birth in jail. At 18."

Regina raised an eyebrow in challenge. "I didn't have drugs. And the town almost collapsed around us."

"I- " Emma closed one eye, trying to think. "Okay fine. You win."

"You should try to get some sleep, Emma," said Regina softly.

"You're awake too." Emma yawned widely.

"Yes, but I have to be up and you're the one who has been working yourself ragged during the day. And you've been up half the night on the computer. Have you heard from Henry?"

Emma had been logged into her newly created twitter account, sitting in their bed for hours while Regina managed to catch some sleep between feedings.

"No, he hasn't written anything since the last one."

Once the baby had had enough Emma put DJ back in the bassinet where his still-blue eyes drooped straight away and he slipped asleep. It wasn't the last time he woke that night, but each time Emma rose first and did whatever she could to make sure her wife and baby were settling in ok.

* * *

The next day Regina had DJ on the change table in the nursery when Emma came to stand in the doorway.

"I spoke to Belle on the phone," said Emma. "She hasn't heard from Gold but she's worried about him. She said he was talking about trying to find his son."

"He doesn't have a son," said Regina, reaching for the cornstarch powder.

"I dunno." Emma shrugged. "Anyway, whatever his agenda is and whatever part Henry has in it - we'll find out soon enough I suppose."

Regina finished changing the little boy and pulled his onesie back on. He started to fuss so she picked up him up along with his favourite blue blanket decorated with the fish from Dr Seuss - a gift from Grandma. She settled him on her chest and rocked him slowly.

"Regina... Did you know Gold was coming for the baby?"

"What are you talking about." Regina flashed her a cross look. She was tired and sore and she definitely didn't want to talk about this now.

"You freaked when you found out DJ was a boy... Gold told me the deal was for a 'Mills first-born son'. You knew about it didn't you?"

"Yes," said Regina reluctantly.

"Did you make the deal."

Regina's dark eyes narrowed dangerously. "Of course I didn't. It was my mother's deal. She offered Rumpelstiltzskin her first-born son. It would've been me if I'd been a boy. Now the deal falls to my son to fulfill. Gold saw fit to tell me of it one day, shortly after I first started to show."

"Is your mother in Storybrooke?" Emma asked carefully, wondering why she'd never asked if there was anyone related to Regina here who had been brought over by the curse.

"She's dead," said Regina shortly. "Where she belongs."

_Oookay, topic closed_ , thought Emma.

Regina put the baby down in the crib since his eyes were closing.

"Why didn't you tell me about the deal?"

Regina looked at the floor and wrapped her arms around herself. "Because Dr Reed told me the baby was a girl anyway. I didn't want to have to tell you more about my 'evil past'. I'm sick of you having to deal with it."

"Are you okay?"

Regina grabbed the baby monitor and went to lay down in the bedroom.

* * *

After breakfast one day David saw Mary Margaret staring absentmindedly while she wiped the same already-dry plate over and and over. He flicked water from the sink into her eyeline to try to catch her attention playfully.

"Mar?"

"I feel like I want a baby," said Mary Margaret, sounding uncertain.

David cleared his throat and ran a hand over his hair. "Ah, okay. We should talk about this then-"

"I am a mother already but I missed out on everything."

David put down the cloth on the bench and placed his hands on her arms turning her towards him. "Hey, I know... but are you sure it's not just because there's a new baby around? It has to be tough on you... all the time seeing what you didn't get to have."

Mary Margaret nodded, considering it. "Maybe."

"It's not wrong to wish things had been different."

"I don't know if I can even conceive again. Maybe the healing from Lake Nostos was only good for once..." Mary Margaret shook her head to free the thoughts. "It doesn't matter anyway."

"Of course it does, if it's important to you."

"No. I won't have another child. I can't do that to Emma."

"Sweetheart, she would want you to be happy."

She knew that was true but Mary Margaret was adamant. "I won't hurt her. I don't want her to think that she's not enough for me, that I need to replace her in any way."

"But the chance was taken away from you - it wasn't your fault-"

"It doesn't matter. She doesn't need me much now but if I have to sacrifice anything for Emma I will do it gladly. I may have missed out on being a mother but she missed out on her childhood and I won't take anything more from her. It's her turn to be happy now, to be a mother, and it's my turn to step aside."

Mary Margaret smiled fully. "That's what grandmas do."

"You are amazing." David kissed her soundly. "I wonder how they're coping with their first week home?"

"Mm yeah. I want to go over there again but I want to give them space too."

David nodded. "I'm sure they know we're here if they need anything."

* * *

"Yeah... As soon as I can get to it... Yes, that'd be great... Ok, bye."

Emma hung up her phone and tapped away at her laptop on the dining table, knocking off a couple of the emails that were still flooding her work account every day. After only two weeks since DJ's arrival, the earthquake disaster relief was well underway. Just about all the damage around town was either safely secured or cleared away of rubble. There had been no deaths but there were quite a number of casualties with minor-to-moderate injuries and very few severe ones.

One of the severe cases was the manager of the Storybrooke Pet Shelter, where David used to work before he became Deputy full-time. He had major crush injuries and a cracked skull and was not yet stable enough for surgery. It turned out that Henry's best friend Tim was supposed to have been at the Shelter that day as well since he volunteered on weekends to help with the dogs, except that he'd had a soccer grand final instead. Emma called Ethel to ask how Tim was dealing with his chance escape and apparently Tim was very upset that many of the animals hadn't survived.

It was rather miraculous that nobody in town was killed actually, since the quake had been strong enough to cause major damage and knock them off their feet. The Pet Shelter had been the worst affected building in town and still lay in ruins.

Emma was just scrolling through the list of names and injuries when Regina came to join her at the table.

"How is the recovery going?" said Regina.

Emma shut her laptop with a hasty snick and kept her tone light. "It's going ok."

"Emma, I caused the earthquake. I have a right to know what happened."

Emma smiled gently at her wife and trailed the back of her hand down her cheek. "Listen, don't worry about that. It wasn't your fault. Nobody blames you for this."

"But I have magic, I can help-"

"No. You need to rest and build up your strength. Just focus on yourself and DJ, let me worry about all this ok?"

Regina studied the table surface for a minute. "Do you want me to put DJ in the pram? We could walk over to your mother's if you want? Dr Reed said I could exercise when I felt up to it."

Emma opened her mouth to respond and paused, thinking of the damage sites they'd have to pass on the way. "Um, that's a bit far isn't it?"

Regina frowned. She'd been cooped up in the house since well before the birth and Emma had been hovering all over her like a pest, always checking to see if she needed anything but never accepting help in return. This was meant to have been a break for Emma too, instead of working she should've been on leave spending time with the baby and the both of them together. And yet, Regina noted glumly, it was because of _her_ haywire magic, because of _her_ family's deal, that Emma was missing out on this precious time in the first place. And Henry was missing it too.

"Why haven't you gone after Henry?" asked Regina suddenly.

"Go to New York? What good what that do."

"It'd be better than doing nothing."

Emma was stung by the inference that she wasn't doing as much as she could. She had been tempted to go, weighing up whether she should try to go to New York to find him. It was useless doing nothing but it would be a hopeless search trying to find two people who didn't want to be found as yet in such a huge city with nothing to go on. And she could hardly leave right now with everything going on.

"You should go and get our son!" Regina's voice raised fiercely. "Why haven't you?"

Emma felt her temper spike but she pushed her frustration deep down. "I can't leave you here alone."

"I'm not going to fall apart because you're not here, Emma," said Regina angrily.

"What are you talking about? Of course I can't go. You need me here to help with the baby and -"

"What I need, Emma, is my son back."

Emma went for her wife's hand just before she moved it away out of reach. "I know we don't know what's going on, but he's probably ok-"

"Probably ok," said Regina sarcastically. "Our fourteen year old son gets abducted and you think he's ok. Can you guarantee it?"

Emma ground her jaw. "You want me to go to New York and find two people out of, what, ten million?"

"Isn't finding people supposed to be your 'thing'," snarked Regina.

"Yes, but I used to track down dumbass criminals … not evil genius masterminds like Gold with magic at their disposal. What do you want me to do?"

Regina pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and saw the stars explode. "I want my son back. I want you to go. I want you to leave."

Emma felt her stomach clench. "Gi, you're not making sense. It's only two weeks since you gave birth. You're stressed because of Henry. You're not feeling like yourself-"

"Don't tell me what I feel." Regina leapt up from the table to walk away.

"Regina." Emma got up to follow her. "Regina, are you ok?"

The brunette whirled angrily at the hated question, sick of the very words. "Stop asking me that! Emma, go. Get out of my house. I can't stand you being here anymore."

Emma felt her world came crashing down around her ears. Something was seriously wrong here.

The sharp repetitive cry of the baby rang out from upstairs, echoed in the baby monitor on the table next to the laptop.

Emma held out a pacifying hand. "I'll get him-"

Regina's face crumpled, fighting the burning tears in her eyes. "Please, just go. Leave!"

Without looking Regina threw out her hand to cast the first magic she'd done since before becoming pregnant causing Emma to disappear from the dining room and reappear across town.

* * *

Mary Margaret opened the door to see Emma crying pitifully in the hallway outside her apartment. As soon as she saw her mother she ran to her.

"I think it's over, Mom."


	5. Hot and cold flashes

Emma threw her arms around Mary Margaret and held her so tight she couldn't move or hardly breathe. She was shaking like a leaf and pressing her hot face into her mother's neck.

"What happened?" Mary Margaret smoothed circles on her back.

Emm's chest heaved and she could barely speak. "Regina asked me to leave."

"Did you have a fight? I'm sure it'll be ok, you just need to work things out. It's been a stressful time for both of you since the birth and - what happened with Henry."

The words spilled out of Emma as she told her mother about everything that was going on. Mary Margaret listened patiently with her heart aching for her daughter and her wife. As a foster child shuffled around her whole childhood from place to place, Emma being ejected from her home was likely to be devastating to her. But although Regina had used magic on her wife, Mary Margaret noted that she had sent Emma to a place where she knew her wife would be safe physically and emotionally - her parents'.

Emma was saying that things hadn't been right between her and Regina for a while. She hadn't said anything before now which was characteristic of Emma always putting herself last.

"We don't even make love anymore," Emma blurted out.

"Oh-" Mary Margaret was confused at the sudden topic change but everything was coming out in random order anyway. "Emma, you know Regina was really sick in her first trimester. You remember what it's like when you're pregnant, sometimes you feel a bit unattractive and she only just gave birth-"

"I don't mean _now_. We haven't been together like that since we found out about the baby."

Emma had thought of it back then what the reason might be that Regina started to withdraw from her. She'd tried to reassure her and let her know she still found her desirable. She was so amazingly beautiful when pregnant, she really did glow with happiness - that was, until things started to change. Emma had asked and asked if there was anything wrong but Regina was epic at avoiding answering her questions. Emma was afraid of pushing it too far and upsetting her so she'd backed off on the issue, trusting that her wife would come back to her eventually.

"Maybe she regrets this," said Emma thickly. "She never wanted to get married. The baby was my idea. I shouldn't have pushed her, what was I thinking? I'm going to lose her."

"She does love you, you know that," said Mary Margaret. "But you know what you've been doing don't you?"

"What?"

"Emma, you were very young when you were pregnant. Nobody ever took care of you or made you feel special and you've been bending over backwards to make sure Regina never feels like that. But you made this all about her and what she needs, when it's really about both of you."

Emma nodded to herself, thinking over everything. "You're right. I have to go home."

Mary Margaret stalled her daughter by putting a hand on her arm. "Emma, it's getting dark. Why don't you stay here tonight. Give the both of you a rest. Give Regina a little space."

Though she hated it immensely, Emma complied. But she was up early the next day to walk home.

* * *

Emma slammed the front door as she entered and made a beeline for the kitchen. Making no effort to be quiet she yanked open the fridge and pulled out the ingredients for PBJ which were always on hand. She was slapping the spread onto her toast slices with a knife when Regina walked into the kitchen and went straight to her side.

"Why are you back?" asked Regina.

"I live here," said Emma simply.

Regina opened her mouth making Emma think she was going to disagree.

"I don't care that you own the house," snapped Emma. "This is my home. It's where my wife lives, where my kids live. You got a problem with that, call the police. Oh wait, that's me... And you can magic me all the way to the Arctic-fucking-Circle if you want but I'll still come back."

Regina watched her every movement intently, drinking in the sight of her wife, surprised that she had come back. When Emma cleaned up a glob of jelly that had dripped down the jar, she went to lick her finger but Regina grabbed her by the wrist instead and took the finger into her own mouth.

Emma felt the heat go straight between her legs and bit back a surprised moan. Right now she hated that Regina knew just how to get to her, to take over, and this wasn't how she wanted things.

"Regina-"

She knew they badly needed to talk, to work things out, but the protests evaporated on her lips the second Regina kissed her deeply, pressing her hard against the kitchen bench. She'd missed this so much, being with her wife this way. Emma felt her ears ring and melted into the sensations, spinning out of control. She felt Regina's hand work her zip and then slip inside her jeans and then it was all over in a few short minutes.

"Please, yes oh!" She buried her face in her wife's shoulder.

Emma came down panting heavily and shaky but she couldn't have felt more hurt, shocked, or betrayed by what Regina did next than if she'd ripped out her heart.

She just turned and walked away.

* * *

Emma stood in the doorway of their bedroom seething at her wife who was fiddling with the baby monitor on the bedside table. Regina either didn't hear her come in or was ignoring her completely.

"What the fuck was that?!"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh my god. You are not seriously going to try to pretend this isn't happening! Do you need me to remind you of the part where we haven't spoken properly in months or the part where you just took me in the kitchen without asking."

Regina eyed the baby monitor listening for waking cries. "Emma, stop yelling. You'll wake the baby."

"No! Tell me what's going on. You haven't let me touch you in months-"

"Is that what this is about - because we don't have sex everyday anymore?" Regina glared at her.

"DON'T make it sound like that... I'm going out of my mind with worry because I know there's something you've been keeping from me. This is exactly like when we had Love Flu and you wouldn't talk to me, you wouldn't tell me the truth, I didn't know what was going on inside your head. It's driving me crazy because I don't know what's wrong, or if I've hurt you, I don't know how to fix this!"

"You can't just fix it, Emma," said Regina tightly.

Emma almost started crying. "You're my wife. I love you."

Regina's eyes flashed with hurt. "You say the words, but do you really mean them?"

"You have to ask?" cried Emma incredulously. "After all this time you think my heart's still a rock in my chest?"

"I don't know," Regina admitted quietly.

"We've been married almost four years and _you don't know_ how I feel about you?!"

Regina sighed and looked around the room until her eyes fell on their bed. "I don't know why I - Emma, when we had Love Flu it was only physical attraction on your side - I didn't care at first when we got together, I thought it wouldn't matter as long as - I thought it would be enough just to have you even if you never felt the same. But now I need to know -"

Emma finished for her, "-if I really love you."

"Yes."

"Well, I do." Emma shrugged helplessly and let her arms fall to her sides. "I don't know what to say to convince you."

Regina's face softened. "I believe you."

"No. You don't," Emma said sadly. "Regina, I do love you with all my heart… but right now I can't even look at you."

* * *

_Emma... Emma... Emma..._

She was everywhere in their bedroom, Regina thought, crawling into their bed. The bed was still unmade even though it was afternoon because she hadn't done it and Emma always wanted it to be ready to fall into instead of having to " _move a thousand pillows and cushions just to get in bed!"_ Regina pulled the sheet up over herself and grabbed one of DJ's stuffed toys off the bedside table to hold. It was a soft fluffy rabbit with pink ears that Emma had brought home one day.

Emma's laundry was lying in the basket in the corner because Regina hadn't gotten around to doing it yet. Her wife told her not to bother ironing her work shirts but Regina didn't mind during the day when Henry was at school anyway. She liked to take care of things for Emma, who often had to work long hours or nights. She wanted her to be able to come home and have more time to spend with her family instead of bothering with chores. This suburban housewife aspect to herself was in stark contrast to her former life, but it was a restful freedom when compared to the dark years of militant vengeance and dragging loneliness.

Emma had lived there since they'd had Love Flu. When she'd moved in properly along with her few material possessions she'd kept them all in one place instead of spreading out. Regina didn't think she consciously did it, it was merely the habit of a lifetime of always being ready to leave. Her things were on hand to be quickly gathered just in case. Not anymore though, she'd come to feel secure enough to leave little pieces of herself scattered throughout the house, the same way that Regina's mind was pervaded with memories and thoughts of her.

Regina tucked her hands under her chin, laying on her side, looking at their framed wedding picture on the wall. It was one of the candid shots taken between poses, eleven-year-old Henry was jumping out from behind them wearing his handsome little tuxedo and a cheeky grin, Emma was laughing because Regina had just whispered something sexually suggestive in her ear.

They'd intended their wedding to be simple but Storybrooke had had other ideas. Half the town turned up to witness the surprising end to an unlikely love story. Regina had worn crimson satin and Emma was in icy white, holding a bouquet of roses in the two colours of their dresses. Her wife had looked so beautiful that day, all golden curls and smiles overflowing with happiness.

Regina missed that smile, though she herself had been the one to take it away more often than not of late.

Is this how you treat someone you love, Regina? her conscience whispered to her.

The baby monitor started making soft noises like someone was moving around in the nursery. DJ wasn't crying but it must be Emma in there, Regina assumed. Transmitted over the monitor she heard the nursery chair creak as a body settled into it and a voice began to talk softly:

" _Hey there, DJ, my sweet little boy. How about we have a cuddle? I really need one right now._

" _Watcha staring at on the ceiling huh? What's so interesting up there? Hm, I guess it is interesting if you haven't seen one before. I bet everything in the world is interesting and new to you right now..._

" _You know, DJ, you came into the world in the middle of some chaos and your Mommy and me have been under a bit of stress, I'm sorry for that. But I don't want you to think it's your fault or that we're not incredibly happy to have you come into our lives. Whatever happens, even if your Mom and me - even if we don't make it - we will always love you and your brother..._

" _You're going to love Henry I just know it. He's such a good big brother already and he's a really cool kid. I didn't get to spend time with him when he was as little as you. I gave him away because I couldn't have given him a good chance in life back then. So he lived with your Mommy just the two of them for a while. But one day your brother brought me and your Mommy together..._

" _Your Mommy is amazing you know that? She had a very sad life a long time ago and it made her act badly. But she's come through it. They say I have the strongest heart, but I think it's really her."_

Regina felt like dying hearing her wife speak like that and thought her heart might actually break from the guilt of what she had done. How could she have doubted Emma?

* * *

The next day, Emma and Regina still weren't talking. Even though the house was big it seemed much smaller during a fight, they way they'd constantly meet in the same room or run into each other on the way to tending DJ. This latest time, Emma had beaten her to it and she already had the baby in her arms when Regina appeared in the doorway to the nursery. Their eyes met across the room, but it was hard to tell what Emma was thinking - Regina thought she might've seen hope there but mostly there was just hurt and she looked away quickly and left.

The sounds of the front door opening and people downstairs alerted Regina's attention immediately. Knowing that Emma was in the nursery, she went downstairs to investigate.

Regina descended the stairs and frowned at the three people in the foyer: Mr Gold, Henry, and another man, dressed casually in jeans and a grey hoodie, who had his back to her.

"Hey, Mom!" Henry gave her a lopsided smile.

"Henry! Where have you been," Regina cried out and ran to take him into her arms.

"New York, it was awesome!"

"Thankyou for letting me borrow your son, Regina," said Gold, casually leaning on his silver-tipped cane. "I hope you and the baby are well."

Regina glowered at him with barely suppressed rage, putting a protective arm around her teenage son. She forced down the urge to try to kill Gold immediately, knowing that it wouldn't do any good anyway.

"Trying to pacify my fury with your attempt at gratitude, Mr Gold?" she said in warning tone.

Gold shook his head with a genial smile. "Henry is a fine young man. Your son is a credit to you. He helped me to find _my_ son and for that I'm truly grateful."

"You have a son?" Regina raised her eyebrows at him and then her eyes fell on the other man, who'd been waiting patiently throughout. She frowned in confusion at him, recognising him at once. _He_ was Gold's son?

"Neal Cassady?" said Regina incredulously.


	6. Sons of the father

Regina eyed Neal with a piercing look. "Mr Cassady, you were not supposed to come here. We had a deal."

Neal rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, I'm sorry. Congratulations on the kid though."

Regina pointed at the ground and shook her head. "When Emma finds out-"

"When Emma finds out what," said Emma herself, coming down the stairs before seeing her son. "Henry! Kid, you're back!"

"Hey, Emma," said the teen with a weak wave.

The adults tensed like they were waiting for the last seconds to tick down on a bomb before it exploded.

"Neal," Emma gasped. She felt the breath leave her lungs in a whoosh as she took in the sight of her ex-boyfriend standing there next to her wife and son.

"What - how - what are you doing here?" Emma stammered.

Mr Gold took pity on her and started to explain. "He's my son, lost to me a long time ago - I was however, surprised at his connection to you."

Emma felt ringing in her ears. "He's from - your world?"

The ground under Emma's feet felt like it was crumbling. Neal. Henry's father. Gold's son. This on top of everything else that'd been crashing down on them lately! She'd loved him and he'd left her to take the rap for him, to go to jail for him, to give birth to an innocent baby who deserved better. A betrayal so painful she'd wished never to fall in love again. He'd broken her heart so thoroughly she'd literally willed it into stone. He'd left her with damage that even now was causing her problems with her wife.

Emma looked at Neal and as she spoke her voice escalated and by the end it was a scream. "Did you know who I was - did you know where I was from? - when you left me?!"

"Not at first but-"

Emma dropped her head into her hands. "No. No. I can't deal with this right now!"

"Mr Gold, I think you and Mr Cassady should leave," suggested Regina firmly. She was worried about Emma and concerned about Henry witnessing this scene. She gave Henry a look that said 'upstairs please' and the teen complied reluctantly.

"I'm sorry, Regina," sighed Neal.

"It's not your fault," said Regina quietly.

Emma raised her head and glared at Regina with rising anger. "You two know each other. From where - Fairytale land?"

"No, Regina wasn't even born when I left," shrugged Neal. "I'm like, two hundred or something."

"Then you met here," realised Emma and fixed a look on her wife who was studiously avoiding her. What the hell was going on here? What else wasn't Regina telling her? Enough was enough.

Emma took hold of Regina's upper arm and marched her into the nearby study, slamming the door shut behind them. In the cosy home office Emma paced a few steps like a predator, breathing heavily, and then stepped up to get in her wife's face.

"Cone of Silence. Now!" demanded Emma.

The blue bubble appeared around them once Regina cast the spell protecting their conversation from any wayward ears.

"How did you know who Neal was?" asked Emma angrily.

Regina hesitated but only for a second. "He's DJ's sperm donor."

" _WHAT?!_ We picked out the guy from those anonymous information sheets!"

"It wasn't entirely anonymous. I put Neal Cassady's in with the others. You could've chosen anyone but you picked him even when you didn't who he was. I contacted him and he agreed. He came to the fertility clinic and met me there for the procedures."

"Why did you do this?" Emma was so distraught she was breathless. "For god's sake why didn't you tell me!"

"You're not the only one who can track people. Henry found his biological father online. They've been corresponding. I thought it might be nice for you if Henry and DJ were brothers."

" _Nice?_ " Emma gaped in shock at this new insanity and her hand sliced the air like a blade. "They would be brothers anyway!"

"I meant genetically."

"Aren't you the one who is always saying that genetics mean nothing?"

Regina tensed her shoulders uncomfortably. "If that's true then why does it matter who the father is?"

Emma clenched her fists in frustration. "Of course it matters! It matters because you lied to me - again!"

Regina bit her lip and asked a question that'd bothered her for a long time. "Do you still love Neal."

"What, that's - " Emma was too stunned by the sudden gear change and couldn't get the words out of her mouth to form an answer.

Tears filled Regina's eyes and she stepped out of the Cone of Silence bursting the bubble with an audible pop.

"Regina, no, it's not like that. Let me explain-" pleaded Emma as she ran out.

Emma heard the front door shut and sank heavily into the chair with her head in her hands.

* * *

Henry was down in the kitchen getting stuck into the leftovers that Mary Margaret had stocked the fridge with ever since DJ's birth. Emma came in, her face drawn tight and she swiped her sleeve across her cheeks.

"Mr Gold took Neal to go see Belle," Henry told her, sitting at the bench next to his mother.

"Henry." Emma took him into a hug of relief that he was finally back. "Please, I need to know what happened."

"I looked up my father on the internet. I know you told me he died but I wanted to know his name and find out a bit about him... but then I found him for real, living in New York. I just wanted to see him once."

Emma nodded with watery eyes. She couldn't blame him. She knew how it felt, wanting to know any scrap of information about your parents. For 28 years she would've given anything to know even as little as her parents' names.

"Mr Gold's deal?"

"He didn't really want my baby brother. That's why he offered you the deal to trade me for the baby. He knew you'd make the right choice. He needed me so he could leave Storybrooke and get around New York to help him find his son. You know what he's like, he doesn't know how to ask for help any other way so he cashed in an old deal. At first, I thought it was a coincidence both of us needing to go to New York... but then I realised we were both looking for the same person."

"So you've been emailing Neal?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Henry cringed.

Emma covered her eyes with her hand. _Argh! These stubborn Millses will be the death of me with their secrets!_

"Kid, you may have come out of me but I swear to god sometimes you're like a clone of Regina."

"Ew, Emma," the fourteen year old complained, turning red.

"Oh, you think I'm embarrassing now? Just wait till you're a bit older. By the way, you're grounded."

"For how long?"

"Forever."

"Hey, you lied to me too, Emma."

Emma felt the moral ground shift and crumble underneath her feet at that painful truth. She'd had enough of the secrets and lies so she told him. "Neal is your brother's Dad as well."

"No, he's not."

Emma blinked in confusion. "What?"

Henry shrugged. "He may be my father but he's not my Dad. I already have parents. Can I see my baby brother now? He's okay right?"

"Yes," said Emma, finally getting some relief. "His name is DJ."

Henry grinned mischievously and gave her a knowing look. "So how much trouble did you get in with Mom for naming him that?"

"A lot," said Emma despondently, but she wasn't thinking about the name.

"You and Mom are ok aren't you?"

Emma's face fell like lead. "Henry, can you watch your brother please? I don't want to drop this on you but it won't be for long. I'm going to call Mary Margaret to come straight over. There's somewhere I have to go."

* * *

Emma knocked rapidly on Archie's office door. At the sight of him the words burst out of her in a desperate torrent before he could get a single word out.

"Archie! Please, you have to help me. I'm losing Regina. Everything's falling apart and I don't know what to do-"

"Emma-" started Archie.

Emma pushed past him into his office and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her wife sitting on the patient's couch. Her eyes widened in surprise and she strode over, dropping to her knees in front of her.

"Regina! Please listen - I don't love Neal. Not like that. You have to believe me-"

Regina blinked hard and scrunched the balled up tissues in her hand. "I know, Emma. I'm sorry."

Archie glanced at Regina to check first and then suggested that Emma sit down. "Why don't you stay, Emma. I think the two of you need to talk and it would be good if there was someone else present to act as a-"

"Referee? Umpire?" interrupted Emma, slouching moodily into her side of the couch.

Archie smiled kindly. "I was going to say 'objective mediator'."

"Ok," said Archie drawing out the word as he gathered his thoughts for a strategy. Hurt was rolling off the two women in waves and he had to be careful here.

"Let me try something. I'm going to ask you both some questions and I want you to answer as honestly as you can - whatever you want the other to know. Now you might not want to answer but it's really important for you to clear the air here, I feel. Just remember you're both here for each other."

"Regina. Why don't you tell me one thing that you don't like about Emma."

Regina hesitated, uncomfortable at having to go first with the echoes of all their fights still in her head. "She makes me feel out of control sometimes. Smothered."

Archie nodded, accepting her answer like he expected it from knowing about her history.

"Emma? One thing you don't like about Regina."

Emma rolled her eyes slightly and sighed. "I hate it when she keeps secrets from me."

"Why?"

Emma folded her arms across her stomach. "Because I know when something is wrong but I can't do anything about it. Then I get blindsided later."

Archie noted to himself that it was revealing how they'd both given answers for what they didn't like about the other's _behaviour_ with respect to how it made them feel, not anything they didn't like about the other personally.

"Regina, what's one thing you love about Emma?"

Regina looked down at the hands folded in her lap before answering, thinking of all she had to lose. "The thing I love most is I feel free with her. She gave me a life I never thought I'd have."

"Emma, what do you love about Regina?"

"She's my wife. The mother of my children."

"Those are labels," Archie pointed out gently. "What do you love about _her_?"

Emma frowned like she didn't understand the difference. "I - she's - everything. I don't know how long I've loved her. The lines are blurred between attraction and love I guess - how do you know one from the other? I don't know when it happened I just know that one day I looked at her and I knew I was already there."

"Family is very important to you isn't it."

"It's everything to me. _She's_ everything to me," said Emma, stressing the words.

Knowing both women's histories, Archie would've guessed their answers. Regina's past and in particular her damaging relationships were always working against her, making her think she was both unworthy of and unable to find the love she desperately wanted. Emma on the other hand, had been starved of family and emotional support for most of her life. The labels weren't just words to her, they represented connections to others that she would never take for granted.

Archie cleared his throat, preparing to get to another issue that he considered a symptom that things weren't right with the couple. Regina had been in his office for a while, telling him about the various issues they'd been having but he decided to start with Emma this time.

"Emma. Your wife told me you two haven't been intimate in quite some time. I think... well, there's something there. Tell me about the first time you made love. I mean, no saucy details, just whatever comes to mind."

Emma opened her mouth to answer and shot her wife a side glance. "It was-"

"-terrible," Regina finished with a sly smirk.

"Yes," laughed Emma. "We didn't know what we were doing."

"It was hopelessly awkward but it was still-"

"-wonderful," Emma completed her sentence with a smile.

Archie nodded to himself and hid a smile at their way of talking about this topic. Now they were getting somewhere. "And how do you both feel about your sex life generally? What do you like about it."

"I feel close to her."

"And it's unpredictable."

Archie pressed his index finger against his cheekbone. "Emma, can you tell Regina how you've felt about not being intimate."

Emma shut her eyes, the fun questions had ended. "I tried - I was hurt - but I didn't want to upset her if she didn't want to - I didn't want her to feel like she had to - Gi, I'm sorry, of course I wanted to be with you but not like that if you didn't."

"Regina," started Archie gently. "I know you already told me. Can you tell Emma why you felt like withdrawing from her."

Regina took a shaky breath. "At first it was because I was sick and tired all the time and I felt horrible... I didn't want to lose you because of it - and then it got worse because I knew you were feeling rejected - I didn't want us to lose the only thing we had together - I wasn't sure you felt like I do - and I didn't know how to get you back - how to get to your heart any other way-"

All this stuff between them grew out of almost nothing, Emma realised sadly, from a few secrets and lies, like a thick skin building up and growing over a tiny splinter. Their sex life had merely been the first casualty but the attacks had come at them from all sides as well as from within: the difficult pregnancy, Gold's deal, the birth, the earthquake and it's aftermath, Henry going missing, DJ's paternity, Regina still not knowing she was loved...

Emma saw tears start to roll down Regina's cheeks and she couldn't stand it any longer. She slid across the couch and pulled her wife into her arms.

Pongo started to whine and Archie saw him get up from his basket in the corner.

"Oops. Pongo wants out. Why don't you two sit tight and I'll be right back in five. Or ten. He's a bit fussy about where he likes to poo."

Archie grabbed the leash and left the office with the dalmation in tow.

"Ya think he and the dog planned in advance to leave us alone together?" said Emma wryly, near Regina's ear, earning a teary laugh.

Emma sat back slightly and took her wife's hand in the Love Flu way but with lacing their fingers together. She pressed a kiss to Regina's knuckles.

"Before we got married I made you a promise, do you remember?"

At Regina's nod Emma went on. "I promised you that ours would never be like your first marriage. I never want you to feel forced or controlled or trapped by me. You're free to leave whenever you want. It'll kill me inside, but I'd let you go if that's what you wanted."

Regina's eyes filled again. "I don't ever want to leave you, Emma."

"I feel like I'm losing you anyway. I know I hovered over you. Probably drove you crazy. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Emma, I'm not as fragile as you think. I won't break. You give me everything and never take anything for yourself in return. I just want to be able to give you a little of what you give me. But you're always so strong - you don't need any saving. You always put yourself last. I'm sorry I kept things from you. I don't know how you can keep forgiving me..."

"Ah well, forgiving you is what I do," said Emma cheekily.

Regina scrunched her nose and backhanded her wife playfully in the shoulder.

"Hey! Ow."

Emma leaned in and rested their foreheads together, closing her eyes. "How did we get here? How can you not see how much I love you..."

Emma sighed heavily and looked deep in her eyes as she placed her wife's palm flat on her own chest. "Can't you feel my heart, Gi? It beats for you."


	7. The fever breaks

"I must say I am pleased to see this," said Archie. He re-entered his office after knocking for quite some time.

Regina and Emma were still sitting close together on the couch holding hands and talking quietly when he walked in.

"Were you expecting your office to be destroyed, Dr Hopper?" Regina said with a bit of her old spark.

"I would just send you the bill, Regina." Archie took his seat.

"Ok. So we're going to talk through some more things in a sec but first I want to tell you what I think's going on here... The problems you've been having stem from not being honest with each other. By keeping secrets you're holding part of yourselves back. Not that you have to tell each other absolutely everything - little secrets are fine, in fact, it's perfectly normal and healthy - but when you withhold about issues important to your relationship, such as your children or your feelings toward one another, then it becomes unhealthy and you inadvertently cause pain for both of you."

"Regina, you say you felt smothered by Emma. I think her obsessive checking behaviour was born out of her anxiety about not knowing whether you were ok - which you weren't."

Regina agreed that his reasoning made sense. "You mean, if I'd told her the truth she wouldn't have felt the need to be a pest."

"You know what you need to do?"

Regina nodded and inhaled slowly. "Let Emma in."

Archie gave himself an internal high-five at how far she'd come since four years ago when Regina had come to him for help reconciling with her past so she could give her new life with Emma it's best chance. He turned to Emma next.

"Emma. In a marriage, there'll always be some give and some take on both sides, in different ways at various times... You're trying so hard to be there for Regina in every possible way, but you need to sometimes let _her_ take care of _you_. Don't continually push your feelings aside for the sake of hers. You can afford to show a little weakness with someone you trust. Let her support you."

"Do you think you can give it a shot?"

Emma nodded, taking it all in. "I guess I don't know how, but I will definitely try."

Archie would've said that moments like these were why he went to college and studied all those years to become a psychiatrist … if the memories of the all-nighters and exams had actually been real.

"Ok, you guys did really well," said Archie proudly. "I mean that, it's not easy to ask for help or to look so closely at yourself."

Emma smiled sheepishly. "So what's the verdict, doc? We'll be ok if we work on our crappy communication skills?"

Archie raised his eyebrows to make a point. "I think it's interesting that you both came to the same place for help. It tells me you both want this to work out."

"So we're gonna make it?" said Emma, beaming.

"That's always been up to you two to decide."

Regina snuck a glance at Emma, studying the happiness in her smile.

Archie patted his hands on his thighs. "So. Feeling better? You're welcome to come back and see me anytime, together or separately. You know where I am if you need me."

Emma was just about to thank him again when Regina piped up. "Wait. What about sex?"

Archie and Regina had just been talking about that issue when Emma burst in. Regina had told him what had happened in the kitchen that morning and how guilt-ridden she was over it. She'd felt Emma slipping away from her and out of desperation she'd fallen into an old habit of abuse of control. In a twisted way she'd been trying to get Emma back.

"Sex is fine," said Archie to reassure them. "Whenever you're both ready - physically and emotionally. I want you to think carefully before using sex as means to an end. Regina, you know what that's like from both sides, as you and I have spoken about before. You know it's not the way to Emma's heart. You are capable of loving and being loved and I think you'll find that you already have what you want."

Archie had a lightbulb idea and rummaged through his desk for the right worksheet. He handed them both a copy. "Here's some homework for you."

Regina scanned the numbered list on the sheet and let out a single laugh.

Emma raised a lascivious eyebrow at the man after reading the first few descriptions. "I don't recall homework ever involving _this_ , Archie."

* * *

It was dark by the time Emma got home with Regina and they found her parents sitting in the lounge room. Emma had hurriedly called Mary Margaret on her way to Archie's to request last-minute babysitting, which her mother was only too happy to do. She knew Mary Margaret would be curious as to why she and her wife had suddenly run out of the house right after Henry returned, but that could wait for later.

Mary Margaret was sitting down holding DJ, swaddled and sleeping soundly in her arms. David was sitting on the floor near her feet with his back against the lounge. They both looked up when Emma and Regina entered, noticing that there was more of a lightness between the couple than there had been in weeks.

"Hi," chirped Mary Margaret softly. "Do you want DJ?"

"No, he's fine," said Regina, peering at her baby's peaceful face.

Emma groaned softly. "God no. Don't move him if he's actually sleeping."

David and Mary Margaret were surprised to see Emma looking so exhausted. She looked worse than Regina, who could be expected to be tired from nursing the baby at all hours of the night. But Emma had been up with her at every feeding too and was still trying to work during the day on zero sleep. That and the emotional stress had finally caught up with her.

"You look terrible, Emma," said David wryly.

"Sorry, but it's true!" Mary Margaret giggled.

"Thanks, parents," said Emma sarcastically. "That's real nice."

She collapsed into the opposite lounge and slumped tiredly against Regina's side. Regina put her arm around and cradled Emma's head, shifting her onto her shoulder. "Lay down, dear."

"Where's Henry?" asked Regina, laying her cheek atop Emma's blonde curls.

"In the back room playing xbox with Tim," said David. "He asked if Tim could stay over tonight."

"He's supposed to be grounded..." said Regina, having heard the details about New York from Emma when they were talking in Archie's office earlier.

David shrugged. "Countermanding the parents' orders is what grandparents do."

Mary Margaret studied Emma's closed eyes and whispered. "I think she's fallen asleep already. She must've been really tired."

Regina's eyes slipped closed as well. "Mm. She knows everything's going to be ok now."

After a few minutes of silence Mary Margaret realised that Regina had fallen asleep too and she was heart-warmed to see it. The couple must've reconciled after the fight that sent Emma over to their place. Mary Margaret knew things would work out, they loved each other so much. She and David shared funny grins at the exhausted new parents, sleeping adorably together.

Mary Margaret held up her hand as if there was an invisible mobile phone in it and mouthed to David cheekily. " _Get a photo!"_

* * *

That night DJ's little noises dragged Regina out of sleep again and she brought him back to bed with her to nurse him. Emma was lying on her front next to her in bed, with her lanky arms and legs taking up maximum space like usual. She stirred at the noise but didn't get up.

"Need me, Gi?" Emma slurred, mostly still asleep.

"Always, dear," said Regina softly. "But not right this second. Go back to sleep."

"Mm k."

Regina reached over to play with the blonde curls spread out on the pillow and moved a few locks out of Emma's face. Her wife had fallen back into a dead sleep immediately.

Regina was tired herself but her body was slowly getting used to the every-four-hours routine. She'd known when pregnant that she'd be tired after but hadn't quite been prepared for what it would actually feel like. It'd been so different with Henry. She had adopted him at only two weeks old with almost no experience with children or babies. She'd been alone and trying to juggle her job as well. There was no-one to help her back then.

At the same time that she was learning to take care of baby Henry and starting to fall in love with him, Emma was finishing out her sentence in jail with a broken heart, most likely worried sick with wondering whether her baby had ended up in a good home.

How Emma had ended up so _good_ after what she'd been through as a child, Regina didn't know. She'd had crap thrown at her from her earliest moments in life and still grown to have an amazing capacity for forgiveness. For most of her life she'd had far less love than she deserved and she'd had no-one to call her own. But now she had a wife and two children and Regina knew there was nothing she wouldn't do for her family.

"We're so lucky, DJ," Regina whispered, watching her wife sleep soundly.

* * *

The fourteen year olds were having a sleepover in Henry's room since it a Friday night and they hadn't hung out in a few weeks. Henry was lying in his bed and Tim was in a sleeping bag on the floor with one of the spare pillows. Even though it was very late, both boys were still awake and they'd heard DJ cry in Henry's parent's bedroom across the hall.

"So you found your Dad huh?" said Tim.

"Yeah."

"That's cool. Is he gonna stay?"

"Dunno." Henry shrugged, fighting to stay awake.

"You're lucky. Your parents are still together and now you have a Dad too."

"He's not gonna be my Dad. He's just here cos he's Mr Gold's son."

"My Dad won't even talk to me," said Tim quietly. "He's getting remarried and I know Mom's not his wife anymore but I'm still his son..."

Henry regarded his best friend in the near-darkness with silent sympathy. There wasn't really much he could say to make that better. Both he and friend's parents were among the couples who had been stuck together during the Love Flu epidemic, but Tim hadn't been as lucky. His parents had been fighting for a while before they finally divorced whereas Henry's parents had been fighting for a while before they'd finally married.

"Was New York cool?" asked Tim.

"Yep, Neal took me around a few places. Hey, did you win soccer?"

"Yeah, 2-1, shoulda been 3-1 though. Minor and Major premiers. Coach says I'm moving up a grade next year."

"Awesome. The grand final was the day my brother was born right."

"Yeah. Is it weird having a baby around?" said Tim, who was an only child.

"Nah. He doesn't do much yet," said Henry.

"Were your Moms mad you ran away?"

"I think I'm grounded but Mom's got DJ to worry about and Emma's pretty busy with the Earthquake stuff."

"Leoni died," said Tim, choking up.

"David told me what happened around town. I'm really sorry. She was great."

"I miss her heaps. I was supposed to be there that day. Maybe if I was I could've gotten her out..."

"We should go back there tomorrow and make sure," said Henry.

"You think?" said Tim hopefully.

"Yeah. I got an idea."


	8. Lessons learned

It was Saturday and Emma was at work unfortunately. It'd been almost three weeks since the earthquake and paperwork and all that other admin nonsense was piling up. Contractors hired to do the cleanup and repairs had been trying to get ahold of her for quotes, even though that crap had nothing to do with the Sheriff. It was all supposed to come out of city funds anyway. Emma had no patience for it.

Her wife would be much better suited to organising people than she was, thought Emma with a smile. That's what her old job had basically involved... well, in addition to ruling over the populace and getting her own way. She'd never returned to office after the curse broke though. Regina seemed much happier these days with her new 'job'...

Emma had rolled out of bed as a rumpled mess that morning when her phone started ringing. She'd dressed and reluctantly left home where her wife was making apple pancakes for Henry and Tim.

Emma and Regina managed to talk about a few issues in Archie's office the day before and again in bed that morning and although things were far from okay, their relationship was in a much better place. With so much to deal with at once, they'd agreed to work through it slowly. Just knowing that they both wanted to heal and were ready to tackle their problems was enough to make it seem like things were going to be okay eventually. And that thought was comforting enough for now.

One of the first things Emma wanted to reassure Regina about was her anger over finding out about DJ's paternity. Finding that out only once her ex was standing in their foyer had been painful enough but she was mostly upset because Regina had kept the truth from her for so long. Her wife was clearly guilt-stricken over it though and it made Emma feel worse over her reaction to the news and for bringing it up yet again after what Regina had been through while pregnant. But what Emma wanted her to understand was that it changed nothing. The baby's genetics would never change how much Emma loved her son - and it certainly wouldn't get in the way of forgiving her wife and loving her no matter what.

It was lunchtime now and Emma's stomach decided she'd done enough work for the day. She had no food though. What to do? Calling Regina to pack the kids into the car just to bring her a sandwich seemed a bit much to ask (and a risk to her life and limbs) so Emma thought she'd go for the next best thing...

Emma pressed send on her phone and Mary Margaret answered cheerily. " _Hi Emma! Are you still at work?"_

Emma frowned and looked around the room as if she had a camera on her. "How'd you know I was at work? Hey, can you bring me some lunch, I'm starving."

" _Sorry, Emma. I can't."_

Emma heard the gurgling noises of a baby came over the phone. "Is that DJ? Why is he with you?"

" _Regina dropped him off just now. She didn't say where she was going but she was dressed up, like for a job interview."_

"Uh. Ok." Emma was confused. Regina wanted to go back to work? She hadn't ever said anything... and DJ was still really little. It couldn't be a job interview, it was Saturday. What was she up to?

The sharp staccato sound of heels on the cheap lino sounded in the office. Emma looked up and her jaw dropped open, the phonecall now completely forgotten.

Regina walked into her office looking every bit the former Mayor of Storybrooke, imperious and self-assured. She was even wearing one of her stylish suits, a black pencil skirt with a crisp ice-white blouse with three-quarter cuffed sleeves and heels. Emma's mouth went dry.

"Sheriff Swan," Regina greeted her huskily, standing in front of Emma's desk. She placed her palms on the surface and leaned in.

"Madam Mayor," Emma said in a low voice, looking up at her wife and giving her a slight smirk.

Regina kept up the act. "Would you join me for lunch, Sheriff?"

"Sure. How can I say no to the Mayor?"

"You can't. I made reservations."

Emma got up and started looking around for her wallet and keys, stealing multiple glances at her dressed-up wife. Regina located the keys easily and put them into Emma's hand.

"Where are we going? Do I need to change clothes?" asked Emma, looking down at her usual style of skinny jeans, shirt, and leather jacket.

"No, come as you are. Pendragon's."

Emma gave her an amused expression. "Gi, you hate that place. You think they serve cat."

"I do not," Regina denied it strongly. "It's your favourite."

"Uh huh, sure." Emma flicked the lights off and followed her wife out the door heading for the exit.

Once they got to Pendragon's, they were seated at the best table with a view of the garden and the waiter brought around menus. Emma didn't really need one, she was going to order her favourite anyway. Regina said something about her being as "imaginative as always".

"Wait, can you eat any of this?" said Emma, suddenly remembering. There was a whole list of foods Regina wasn't allowed to eat while she was pregnant and it had restricted dining out a bit.

"It's fine now. Just nothing that might upset DJ's stomach."

"He's getting into a better routine," noted Emma gratefully.

Regina nodded, closing her menu and checking her watch. She'd fed DJ just before leaving. "We have four hours at the most... but I don't want to stay away that long."

"No, we'll go home after this," Emma agreed. "I'm not going back to work today."

After the waiter came to take their orders and menus back, Emma looked around the small restaurant before smiling widely at her wife.

"You look beautiful, you know," Emma said sweetly. "Everyone in the restaurant is jealous of me."

Regina looked at her skeptically. "There's only six other people here."

"Yes, and they are _all_ jealous."

"Emma, I just had a baby. My cheeks look like I'm storing nuts for the winter in them. And don't get me started on the rest of me."

"I had noticed there was more of you," said Emma innocently. "Especially 'Left' and 'Right'."

"Shut up," Regina growled playfully. Her wide smile revealed rows of pearly white teeth. "I'm not the seductive Evil Queen anymore. I'm a boring housewife."

"That's hilarious for so many reasons... and you're wrong. I'm far from bored. Even Tim has a massive crush on you."

"Emma," Regina tsked in complaint.

The couple continued to banter and talk about various things until their meals were served. It was good to spend time together, almost back to their old selves, and though they loved their children dearly, it was nice to be alone for a little while. They stayed with safe topics, appreciating a small rest from the recent stresses on their relationship.

Gradually over lunch, Emma noticed her wife talking less and the cheer began to fade from her smile. Emma was tempted to ask if Regina was ok, but she fought hard against it. She snaked her hand across the table reaching silently for her wife's hand to hold.

Regina's fork clattered to her plate and she closed her eyes with her free hand over her forehead.

"Emma, I don't feel well," said Regina shakily.

"Come on, let's step outside for some air," said Emma, standing up and leading her out the restaurant's side door that went out to the outdoor seating in the garden. There was no-one out there though. She led Regina away from the glass doors so they had a bit of privacy.

Emma held Regina's face and stroked her thumb across the cheekbone as Regina started to cry a little.

"Feeling sick or just missing DJ?" asked Emma.

Regina nodded tearily, indicating the latter. "I don't know why I'm crying! It's just hormones."

"Doesn't mean it's not real." Emma smiled gently. "Hey, I got an idea."

Emma took her phone from her back pocket and located a very familiar number.

"Hey, Mary Margaret? How is he… Uh, I have someone here who really wants to see DJ... can you take a ten second movie of him and send it to me?... Yes... haha don't worry about that, just take it anyway."

Emma hung up and rubbed her hand down Regina's upper arm while they waited. When the message came through the two of them huddled around the phone to watch:

...The handheld video jerkily showed the main area of Mary Margaret's apartment. DJ was on his back half-dressed on the coffee table on a padding of white towels used as a makeshift changing table. He was wiggling his little arms in the air and looking around at the ceiling, mewling and searching for something. Mary Margaret had her hand on his stomach to prevent him rolling and her voice came over the phone's speakers:

"Hi, this is Grandma and this is my grandson DJ. He's such a good little angel!"

David's voice sounded like it came from the other side of the apartment. "That diaper he just produced did not come from an angel, Mar."

"Well, if you hadn't put it on wrong it wouldn't have leaked, David."

"Say hi, DJ!" The video zoomed in to DJ's chubby little face for the last seconds and he blinked crankily...

Regina sighed at the sight of her baby, recovering from the separation anxiety. Emma smiled in relief and kissed her on the cheek.

"We can go home if you want, Gi."

"No, let's stay a little while longer. I know you're hanging out for dessert."

* * *

Almost three hours since Regina had dropped the baby off David checked on his grandson who had started to whine pitifully in his portable bassinet. He wondered why DJ still hadn't fallen asleep after he'd put him down. David put his hand on the baby's forehead and frowned.

"Mar?" he called out to his wife.

"Yeah, David?" she called back from upstairs.

"Can you come have a look at the baby?" David picked up the tiny boy and cradled him in his arms as he began to cry achingly.

Mary Margaret came quickly. She held the back of her hand against the DJ's cheek. "He's starting to get hot. I'll get the thermometer."

The pixie-haired woman rifled through DJ's diaper bag looking for the supply kit of baby first aid. She and David waited an anxious minute for the temperature reading.

"101 degrees," Mary Margaret sighed worriedly.

"How bad is that?" asked David.

"Bad enough. It could be just an infection, but if it's serious..."

"We're going to the hospital," said David firmly. "Make sure you have your phone, Mar. Call Emma and Regina on the way."

* * *

Emma's phone rang with the " _Someday my prince will come"_ ringtone that Regina had set for the former Snow White just to rile her up.

"Hey Mary Margaret, we're at home now but we'll be on our way over in a sec. Regina's here with me," said Emma, putting it on speaker phone.

"How's DJ?" asked Regina, hearing the baby crying in the background.

Mary Margaret sighed anxiously over the phone. " _I think he's sick. David and I are on our way to take him to the hospital. We're just getting in the car."_

"What?!" Emma started to panic. "He was fine before."

"What's wrong with him," asked Regina, carefully listening to the nature of his crying. "Is he hot? Cranky? Not sleeping?"

" _Yes, all of those."_

"He has a fever," concluded Regina. Out of all four parents she was the only one who'd soothed a baby's fever before.

Emma gave Regina a stricken look. "Ok. We're leaving straight away, Mary Margaret. We'll meet you guys at the hospital."

Emma hung up and started looking around randomly trying to locate her car keys with her eyes. She was talking to herself pacing around the room.

"Gi, it's gonna be ok. DJ will be fine. Where's my car keys? Fuck, where did I leave them? I had them five minutes ago!"

Regina grabbed the Bug's keys off the kitchen bench and cupped Emma's worried face with her hand. "Emma. Try not to panic. Babies get sick all the time."

"Ok. Ok." Emma nodded anxiously. "Let's go. Where's Henry. Upstairs? HENRY!"

"He's not here," said Regina, gathering her handbag from the bench. "He and Tim went to the Pet Shelter to see Leoni."

Dread punched like a shot in Emma's stomach. " _What?!_ How do you know that?"

"He told me before I left," said Regina, wondering what the problem was.

"And you didn't stop him?! Regina, the Pet Shelter was destroyed in the earthquake..." Emma closed her eyes, clenching her fists, kicking herself. "...which you wouldn't know cos I never told you what happened."

"Henry's in danger?" realised Regina worriedly. "We have to get to him."

Emma's chest tightened and she felt like she couldn't get enough air. Both of her children were in trouble and she was torn between them again. She'd made the right choice last time, now she didn't know what to do. DJ was sick but on his way to receive proper medical care with his grandparents. Henry had set off for a hazardous zone hours ago but he may not have actually gotten into any danger yet.

_DJ... Henry... DJ... Henry... DJ... Henry..._

Emma decided. "Gi, go to the hospital for DJ. I'll go after Henry. Tell David to meet me at the Shelter."

Regina shook her head. "Emma no, I'm coming with you."

"What? No!" said Emma firmly. "We have two kids in trouble and there's two of us. We have to split up, it's obvious."

Regina grabbed her hand and pleaded with her. "Emma, we can't solve problems by thinking the same way we created them. We have to stick together. Let me help you. Please. We need to get to Henry. Your mother can take care of DJ."

Emma's mind begged her to stay firm and say no. With Regina now volunteering to go to a dangerous disaster site, every member of her family needed protecting. Her instincts were begging her to refuse, to send her wife to the hospital where she'd be safe and could take care of their baby.

Regina gave birth less than three weeks ago. She'd been a housewife for the last four years and sat behind a desk for the decade before that. But Emma's instinct to protect her wife by not telling her any details of the earthquake was what led to this in the first place. Regina was right, they weren't going to get anywhere by acting the same way as before. Archie's voice sounded in her head: " _Let her support you"_...

Emma gave her wife a hard look. "Ok, but if you put yourself in danger intentionally or otherwise then so help me... you're sleeping on the couch for a month, Gi."


	9. Teamwork

Regina and Emma appeared on Main street outside the Pet Shelter in a swirl of purple smoke. The bright yellow and black caution tape fluttered in the breeze like ribbons. In capital letters and diagonal bars it warned against entering the disaster site: a half-gutted building and piles of unstable debris and bricks that had fallen loose in the earthquake. Nothing had been cleared here yet since the manager had been rescued alive and there were other sites with greater priority.

Regina took in the sight with guilt and fear due to the knowledge that her haywire magic caused this and from knowing that her son and his friend may be trapped inside.

"Henry!" "Tim!" Both of them starting calling out for the boys, hoping for a response.

Emma lunged sideways underneath the caution tape and held up a palm to halt Regina from following her. "Just stay here a sec while I check it out ok?"

Emma picked her way through debris, stepping gingerly on crushed bricks and random twists of steel, towards the gaping hole in the part of the building structure that remained standing. Peering in a glassless window at the side, she startled at a crunching gravel noise following from behind her.

"You are such a disobedient wife you know," said Emma, rolling her eyes.

Regina came up at Emma's side, looking over her shoulder into the building. "That's why I wrote our vows and left out that irritating part about having to obey you."

"I meant what I said, Gi, ... couch for a month," warned Emma.

They called out the boys' names again.

"Maybe they're not even here. Maybe they're on their way home to play xbox?" said Emma hopefully, even though she knew her stubborn son better than that.

"Tim seemed upset about something this morning," Regina said, remembering the shy boy's downcast demeanor at breakfast. "Then when I went to drop DJ at your mother's Henry said they were going to go see Leoni."

"Who's Leoni?" asked Emma.

"Tim's favourite dog, an abandoned golden retriever with a lame paw. Tim helps out at the Shelter on Saturdays after soccer practice to feed the dogs but Leoni is his favourite. I think he would take her home with him if Ethel wasn't allergic."

Emma groaned audibly, knowing as she did that the animals hadn't survived and how badly Tim had taken it.

"Try Henry's phone again?" suggested Regina.

Emma shook her head. "No answer. I think he left it at home again anyway."

"What about Tim's?"

Emma took out her phone to call Tim's phone and they heard the Batman theme sounding very close. She turned to Regina with a shocked face. "They ARE here!"

Rapid footsteps approached, crunching on the gravelly concrete, and Henry appeared at a run from around the corner.

"Moms!"

"Henry!" "Are you hurt?" "Where's Tim?" "What are you doing here?" They both peppered him with questions and grabbed out for him in relief but he pulled Emma's arm instead.

"No, you have to help Tim!" insisted Henry. "He's down in the basement. I told him not to go down there cos it was too dangerous but he went anyway. And then I heard a crash."

"I'll get him," said Emma, from under a determined brow. "Stay here with your Mom, kid."

Regina put an arm around Henry's shoulder and went to the edge of the gaping building, watching Emma step carefully towards the darkened hole where the stairs that led to the basement.

"Be careful!" called Henry. "Stuff's been falling the whole time we've been here."

Just as he said it, a wooden beam shifted and fell in Emma's path. Instinctively she curled her arms around her head waiting for the thud of impact which never came. Just in time, Regina threw out a hand and magically froze the air above Emma's head stopping the beam mid-fall.

"Thanks," Emma said gratefully. "Cover me?"

Regina patted Henry's shoulder and ordered him sternly to stay back while she followed Emma towards the crumbling stairs. Emma descended carefully with Regina watching from the top, ready to clear a safe path with magic. Regina threw an inert ball of light as far as she could down the stairs to shed some light on where Emma was treading.

"Can you see him?" asked Regina, trying to see past the illuminated glow.

"Not yet," said Emma, sighing as her feet reached the basement floor. She disappeared from Regina's sight, heading deeper into the unstable underground structure.

"Tim! Can you hear me?" Regina called out.

She heard a shifting and scraping sound and then a small voice coughed. "Mrs Mills?"

"I think I see him, Regina!" Emma called back. "Damn. He's trapped under the cages."

"Hold on, Tim! Sheriff Swan is coming for you, ok?"

A few tense minutes passed, feeling like a hundred years, as Regina waited at the top listening to the sounds of Emma shifting the cages carefully somewhere in the dark below. Finally, her wife appeared in sight at the bottom of the basement stairs with a blond teenager propped at her side. He was standing on one foot like the other was injured and his dirty face was streaked with tears but he seemed relatively unhurt.

Emma pushed him up the stairs until he was within Regina's reach.

"Tim, are you ok?" Regina brushed his dusty hair back and looked him over.

"Yeah, it's just my ankle, I twisted it. I'm really sorry," said the boy guiltily.

"It's alright, dear. Come wait with Henry."

Regina watched him hobble on his good foot over to Henry but her head whipped back around at the sound of a loud creaking from below the gap.

"Emma?" Regina worriedly called over the noise.

"Regina, can you-"

The basement stairs collapsed violently with a loud crash and a force that shook the unsteady floor beneath her feet, raising a cloud of dust obscuring everything from sight.

* * *

"We're going to die, David... you know that right?" said Mary Margaret earnestly.

"Mar," said David, giving her a look that said she was exaggerating. His wife was pacing back and forth so he took her arm and got her to sit in the hard plastic hospital chairs next to him.

"I'm serious!" said Mary Margaret with wide eyes. "If anything happens to her baby Regina is definitely going to kill us this time."

"DJ's going to be fine. You heard the doctor."

They'd taken DJ to the Emergency department where the infant had been examined by the ED doctor and admitted straight away. He'd been started on IV fluids and acetomenophin to bring down his fever and was currently being transferred to the NICU. Mary Margaret and David were outside the ward waiting for the specialist to come and update them with a better idea of how he was doing.

"He's so little," said Mary Margaret sadly, thinking of the poor sick newborn back in hospital without his parents.

"He's strong. Look who his mothers are," said David, trying to make her smile.

"Emma and Regina should've been here by now don't you think?" Mary Margaret said.

David frowned and pulled Mary Margaret's phone out of his jeans pocket. There were no messages or missed calls. "I'm sure they're on their way."

Mary Margaret sighed. "They don't need any extra stress right now. First Henry, now DJ."

David nodded, thinking of the other day when he'd come home to his wife and daughter having an intense mother-daughter talk in the kitchen. Emma was more upset than he'd ever seen her and it worried him. He'd made himself scarce to give them space but not before hearing that Regina had kicked Emma out and that the couple had been having problems for a while. David suspected that Henry going missing right after DJ's birth had catalysed the stress that led to the couple's fighting. Things seemed much improved last night though.

"Miss Blanchard? Mr Nolan?"

Mary Margaret and David both looked up to see a familiar doctor in a white coat standing beside them.

"You!" growled David. "No way."

"You were the family who brought in David James Mills?" said Dr Whale, trying to clarify. "I really need to speak to the parents."

" _You're_ treating DJ?" said Mary Margaret in a horrified tone.

"I'm afraid the specialist is unavailable," said Dr Whale apologetically. "We're still overwhelmed due to the earthquake casualties. I understand your reluctance and I have contacted the on-call resident to get here as soon as possible."

David groaned inwardly, wondering how this situation could get worse. After his involvement in the Love Flu panic, Whale had been released under strict orders that he was to undergo therapy with Archie. The doctor had been allowed to return to his job under a supervised probation period (Storybrooke could hardly afford to lose one of its doctors given that it was closed off from the outside world). Emma and Regina had been informed of the arrangement and their only request was that he stay the hell away from them.

"Is DJ going to be ok?" asked Mary Margaret.

Whale nodded to reassure them. "The meds are doing their job and reducing the fever. I've sent off for some tests and we'll keep him here overnight to make sure, but he's doing better. Believe me, after everything ... well, there's no way anything happens to this child on my watch."

"Still. When Regina finds out..." started David, shaking his head.

"We're all going to die," said Mary Margaret grimly, and this time David didn't disagree.

* * *

"EMMA!" Regina screamed her wife's name, trying to peer down into the dark basement past the rubble of the collapsed stairs. Had Emma been coming up the stairs already when they'd given out?

There was no answer but the floor began to groan threateningly and dust plumes twirled in the air.

"Mom, why isn't Emma answering?" Henry asked fearfully.

Regina squeezed her eyes shut. "Henry, look after Tim so I can go after your mother."

"But you can't-"

"Yes, I can," said Regina firmly. "But I can't concentrate enough to use magic if I'm worried about you so please, sweetie, stay back."

Henry reluctantly went back to wait with Tim at the edge of the caution tape.

"Emma, can you hear me?" Regina called down to the basement.

Regina tried to calm her racing mind enough to decide on a strategy. She threw another ball of inert light down the hole but all it showed was concrete rubble and a small clear area beyond. She knew she could transport magically further into the basement, but without knowing what it was like down there she could easily end up in more danger than Emma by landing unsafely.

Purple smoke whirled around her as she disappeared and reappeared just inside the clear spot she'd seen at the base of where the stairs had been. Lucky she hadn't tried to go further than that because she would've ended up tangled inside the criss-crossed beams and fallen steel now barring her way.

There was no sight of Emma in the dim light. With a sinking feeling, Regina realised her wife must be on the other side of the debris. And if she wasn't answering...

"Emma, please, can you hear me? I need to know where you are," said Regina, dread sinking in her stomach like lead.

Regina crouched, trying to peer through the spaces to the other side and her heart jolted at the sight of Emma laying on her back on the ground, but not moving.

"Emma!" she gasped.

Carefully Regina used magic to try to lift some of the beams out of way, but she couldn't just move them at random lest the whole thing collapse like Jenga. She groaned with the effort of trying to hold all of them at once until the heavy ruined building parts shifted far enough out of the way.

She eyed the precarious structure she'd created above her nervously, hoping it would hold long enough, and crawled halfway through the wreck as far as she could get to.

Regina reached through a cross of twisted steel and tried desperately to grasp Emma's hand but it was laying just out of reach. She panted with rising frustration, wishing she could flatten the whole place in anger... but not until Emma was safely out.

"Emma, I will never forgive you if you break your promise..." muttered Regina.

She swapped arms, wrenching her shoulder painfully into the space. Reaching her right hand out as far as humanly possible, her fingertips grazed Emma's left with just enough contact and in an instant she cast the spell that made both of them disappear into purple smoke...

...and reappear behind the caution tape outside the ruined Shelter next to Henry and Tim.


	10. Do not go gently

"What's wrong with her? Emma!" cried Henry, crouching down beside Emma's prone form on the other side of Regina.

Regina put a palm on Emma's chest and her fingertips to her neck, checking for breath signs and a pulse. But there were neither.

"She must be injured somehow. I don't know," said Regina, trying to stay calm and not panic in front of her son.

"Her leg," coughed Tim, pointing.

Henry saw a bloody gash in Emma's jeans high on her leg and quickly pressed his hands onto it.

"She's bled a lot," said Henry, seeing the blood-soaked jeans. "But it was only a few minutes until you got her out right?"

"Yes," Regina said softly.

Regina let her palm sink magically into Emma's chest and felt for her heart. It was no longer the hard stone like the last time she'd done this. It was softer now and frighteningly still in her chest, and Regina knew that if she lifted the precious organ out she would've seen that it was blood-red instead of pure white.

Gently she squeezed her hand around it, massaging the heart with internal compressions and started up a rhythm that would keep the blood circulating prolonging Emma's life as time slipped further and further away.

"Henry, Tim, quick! Hold onto me," ordered Regina. As soon as the boys each grabbed her arm and clothing, all four disappeared into a rapid swirl of purple smoke...

... and reappeared across town in the foyer of the Emergency Department.

In seconds doctors and nurses descended upon them like a swarm and immediately started working on the injured woman.

"What happened-" A nurse pried Regina away so that they could take over.

"My wife Emma - the stairs collapsed - her leg- " Regina said shakily, watching them attend to Emma calling out to each other in urgent punctuated sentences.

_"Got a pulse! Weak with tachycardic rhythm."_

_"Airway's clear. Breathing rapid and shallow. Somebody bag her, please."_

_"Hypotensive. Blood pressure's still through the floor. Push IV saline."_

_"Deep lac upper left thigh. Severe blood loss."_

Emma started to rouse and move her head around. She groaned, trying to fight the hands holding her down.

"Emma? Stay with us, Emma," a nurse cajoled her, like talking as if to a child. "You're in good hands. Can you hear me?"

"'s gonna be ok," Emma slurred.

"That's right honey, you're going to be fine," the nurse peered into her face, and kept talking reassurances to her. "Your wife and boys are here waiting for you."

A stretcher appeared from nowhere and they lifted Emma onto it swiftly and dumped blankets around her to prevent her deteriorating into hypovalemic shock. The team kicked off and wheeled Emma towards the trauma room with the family trailing behind.

The nurse stopped at the window with Regina, watching them continue to bring Emma back from the brink. Henry caught up to them with Tim limping slightly beside him.

"Is my Mom going to be ok?" Henry asked anxiously.

The nurse nodded to him kindly. "We just need to get her stable, get her blood pressure back up and stop the bleeding in her leg, and then she'll be transferred to ICU."

The attending came out to swap places with the nurse and continued asking Regina details about the injury and Emma's medical history. Regina answered in a shaky voice as best she could and the doctor assured her that her wife would be fine.

"I'll come out to find you when you can see her. Sit tight," said the doctor.

Before leaving, the doctor gestured them back to a waiting area that was full of chairs. But all it promised was an anxious wait and Regina didn't even sit.

"Tim, how is your ankle?" Regina knelt down and lifted his jeans leg to see a bit of a bruise and swelling.

"It's ok, Mrs Mills. I've sprained it before at soccer."

"Henry, can you two stay here, please? I have to go upstairs."

Regina bade them to stay again after Henry protested letting her go alone and then she headed for the elevator. There was someone else here she had to see.

* * *

Mary Margaret and David were shocked at the sight of Regina, formerly well-dressed and now dishevelled and dusty, getting off the elevator and arriving alone at the NICU ward. She spied them immediately and rushed over, heelings clicking staccato-quick.

"My baby...?"

Mary Margaret quickly reassured the new mother. "DJ's going to be ok. He just has a UTI, thats what caused the fever, but he's going to be fine."

Regina's relief was palpable. Her face darkened murderously in an instant upon noticing the identity of the doctor standing off to the side, having just delivered the test results to them.

"You!" Regina snarled at him. In two strides Regina got up in Whale's face, holding her arm out like she was throttling an invisible neck. Whale lifted magically off the ground and started choking.

"Regina!" Mary Margaret cried out.

"What are you doing here Doctor Whale?" demanded Regina angrily. "This wasn't part of the deal. Do you imagine that I'd let you anywhere near my son after what you tried to do to my wife!"

"Regina stop, let him down," Mary Margaret persuaded her gently placing a soft hand on her shoulder.

David hastily joined in at her other side. "DJ's ok. If you and Emma want to see him I'm sure Dr Whale can organise that straight away."

Whale dropped to his feet with a stumble and nodded once at them before disappearing into the ward to speak to the baby's nurse.

"Where's Emma?" asked David, wondering why it had taken them so long to get there and why his daughter wasn't with Regina.

Regina's face turned ashen. "Downstairs in ED."

David and Mary Margaret shared alarmed glances. "What?!" "What happened, is she ok?"

"They're still treating her. They won't let me see her yet... so I came up to see DJ."

Regina gave them a quick and jumbled account of rescuing Henry and Tim from the Pet Shelter and how it resulted in Emma's injury.

"Her heart stopped," Regina told them around panicky breathing.

David placed a comforting hand on Regina's arm. "Ok I'm going to go find the boys and wait for Emma's doctor. Why don't you stay here and see DJ. I promise I'll call you the minute we hear anything alright? It's going to be ok."

After David jogged away heading for the elevator Mary Margaret led Regina to sit down while they waited to see the baby.

"Now I know where she gets it from," said Regina, shaking her head with a teary smile.

"What?"

Regina rolled her eyes lightly. "That insufferable optimism and chivalry. 'It's going to be ok'. Emma says that all the time, even when she's only half-alive. But that doesn't always happen in life, not everything turns out fine just because you want it to."

Mary Margaret smiled sympathetically, thinking that Regina knew that better than anyone. "It will be ok this time."

"Oh god, it's contagious. You do it too."

Mary Margaret chuckled and they lapsed into an anxious silence. After a while, Regina spoke up. "You should go to your daughter, you must be terrified."

Even though that was true, Mary Margaret also thought that it was Regina projecting her own fears about losing Emma. After what she'd been through with Daniel, Regina must be understandably afraid of losing another part of her heart. She never did deal with loss very well and Mary Margaret could not even entertain the idea of leaving her alone right now.

"I am feeling a bit torn...," admitted Mary Margaret. "My daughter needs me downstairs and my daughter-in-law needs me upstairs."

Regina's eyes snapped up to look at her searchingly, as if she still couldn't quite believe that she was truly forgiven and even cared for by her wife's parents.

"Don't look so surprised," chided Mary Margaret lightly. "I know how much you love Emma and I love seeing how happy you make her. You're family."

Regina nodded with a weak smile. "She was right. Four years ago Emma convinced me we could make this work, she promised that she would love me. I didn't believe her at the time, but I let her try anyway. I couldn't help myself. But... she kept her word. She always does."

Regina's voice faltered with the last part as she fought tears.

"We'll have a little cuddle with DJ and then we'll go to Emma," said Mary Margaret kindly.

Regina nodded again. She felt a heat in her chest and looked down to see wetness on her blouse. It'd been several hours since she'd nursed the baby and though he was being fed by IV right now her body didn't know that.

"Oh, DJ," she sighed sadly, pulling at her blouse.

"Never mind. Here, take my cardigan," Mary Margaret offered.

Regina took the pretty cream cardigan, eying its sweet satin bows at the hem, and held it out like it was nuclear waste. It was definitely an item from Snow White's wardrobe.

"I can not wear this. Woodland creatures will start flocking to me."

"Mrs Mills?" A nurse in navy NICU scrubs appeared and smiled kindly. "We have someone inside who really wants to see his Mommy..."

* * *

David fidgeted, bouncing his knees, as he sat in the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room with Henry and Tim. He'd taken Tim quickly to get his ankle checked out but thankfully it was just swollen and wouldn't need an x-ray. The boys had told him what had happened, giving him a clearer account than the panicky one Regina had given.

He'd been jumping out of his seat every time a doctor in a white coat came near and was finally right this time.

"Family of Emma Swan?" asked the doctor, looking around the waiting room.

David rushed to the man. "Is she ok-"

"I'm Doctor Forster. Are you next of kin?"

"Yes. No. I'm her father," said David confusingly, and saw Forster give him a strange look noting his similar age to his apparent daughter's.

"I mean, her wife's upstairs with their baby in the NICU. Please, I need to know what to tell her - she'll be devastated if it's not good news-"

"Is my Mom ok?" Henry asked the doctor, sounding much younger than his fourteen years.

"Yes," said Forster quickly, taking pity on the worried family members. "We've got her stabilised and sutured the laceration in her leg. She may need surgery but we'll see."

"Can we see her?" said Henry hopefully.

"She's being transferred to ICU right now but she is awake. I really need to speak to her wife..." said Dr Forster.

David took Mary Margaret's phone out of his pocket and pressed send. It was answered on the first ring.

"Mar? She's ok. Put Regina on... Yes, Emma's fine, she's awake... We'll meet you at ICU."

* * *

Only one visitor was allowed into Emma's ICU room so Regina went in led by the nurse who was updating her on her wife's condition. Emma was to be moved out of ICU tomorrow and was going to be fine after a routine surgery, but Regina barely heard more than those details - she was too mesmerised by the sight of Emma's peaceful face. Her face was scrubbed clean of dirt and her dusty blonde hair lay on the pillow beneath her head.

Regina sat next to her and took up her hand in the Love Flu way. Emma's eyes fluttered open revealing a familiar green gaze.

"Gi?" she slurred.

"Yes, I'm here." Regina cupped her face gently. "You're going to be fine, Emma dear."

"DJ?" Emma coughed.

"DJ's fine too. They're going to move you both to the same room tomorrow."

Emma frowned at her and groaned softly, trying to move. "I want to go home."

"As soon as the doctor says its ok," soothed Regina, rubbing her thumb across the back of Emma's hand.

"Where am I? What's this strange land? Where's my wife?" said Emma, sounding confused.

Regina looked at the nurse in alarm, she hadn't mentioned anything about a possible concussion and as far as she knew Emma hadn't even injured her head.

"Emma, you don't know me? Do you remember what happened?"

Emma nodded weakly. "You do look like Regina... but my wife would never wear something with sweet little bows on it."

Regina looked down at the cardigan she'd borrowed from Mary Margaret and stopped herself just in time from backhanding her wife in the shoulder, realising she'd been tricked.

"I can't believe you'd do that! After I saved your life."

A smile broke over Emma's face. "You did save me. Nurse told me. Lucky I took you with me huh."

Regina shook her head lightly. "Did you doubt that I would?"

"Mm maybe for a second... that'd be a brilliant revenge, Regina, make me fall in love with you and then let me die."

"Yes, that was my convoluted evil plan all along," said Regina sarcastically. "Idiot."

"Love you."

Regina's face softened as she trailed her hand down Emma's cheek lovingly. "I know. I love you too, more than I can show."

"You show it enough, gorgeous. Don't worry so much, it's going to be ok. Promise."

After the couple had had a few moments together the nurse opened the blinds to show Henry and Tim waving happily behind the glass. Mary Margaret and David were both crying and smiling in relief.

Emma smiled back and waved at her family...

The nurse checked the monitors and smiled at the steady beeps. "Thats a good strong heartbeat there..."

Emma's heart would beat strongly for decades until it stopped on its own one night while sleeping in their bed at home. Regina would wake in the night and realise that her wife had slipped away from her. She'd take Emma's hand joining them together in their favourite way, and press a kiss to her cool face. With one last thought of the happiness they'd shared and the now-grown children they'd raised, Regina knew at last that the life Emma had given her made up for the painful years that came before. She would reach into her own chest magically to send an electrical pulse that would stop her own heart, unable to bear another of it's beats without Emma's nearby.

But both of their hearts had plenty of beating to do before then...


	11. Needy baby

DJ was discharged the next day but Emma had to have routine surgery and remain in hospital for another two days' observation.

The injury and surgery knocked her about and left her weaker than she would've expected and even when she returned home she was stuck in bed resting. It was frustrating her having to do nothing and letting her wife take care of everything. But the good thing was she got to spend plenty of time with DJ, who also had no day-to-day commitments besides filling his tummy and filling his diaper.

But DJ was sleeping in the nursery right now, Henry was at school, and Emma was bored out of her skull.

"Reginaaaa?" Emma whined towards the open bedroom door.

There was no answer though and they had a big house so she figured her wife was downstairs or outside taking the opportunity to put a load of the baby's washing out.

Nearly ten minutes later Regina appeared in the doorway, with still-damp hair from her earlier shower and an empty washing basket.

"Emma, did you call me?"

"Yes," Emma pouted. "Hours ago."

"What's wrong? You don't appear to be dying," teased Regina.

"Just of boredom," Emma grumbled.

"And your toy is asleep I take it?" Regina glanced at the baby monitor's video screen where it was sitting on Emma's bedside table.

"Yes. He's a lightweight. No stamina at all."

"Enjoy it while it lasts. Before you know it he'll be crawling all over the place getting into everything and we won't have a moment's peace."

"It's going so fast already isn't it? I don't want to miss a thing."

Regina smiled. "You won't."

"Thanks to you."

Regina checked her watch. "I've just got to go call Ethel back and then I'll bring lunch up to you."

"No, wait-" Emma started to say, but Regina had already gone.

Emma took her phone from the bedside table and played a couple rounds of Fruit Pops, but she got bored quickly and put it away. Being injured really was the pits. She wasn't sick enough to just want to do nothing and yet she wasn't well enough to actually do anything. At least this wasn't as bad as being in hospital where the only time people came near you was to bring food and then leave.

She wondered how much trouble she'd get in for going into the nursery and deliberately waking DJ for some company...

Finally Regina reappeared with lunch on a tray and Emma's medication.

"Time for nom-noms!" Emma said happily, as though it was the most interesting part of her day.

"Not the kind DJ gets," said Regina wryly.

Right on cue the baby woke up and Regina left to go feed him. Emma sighed and looked at her food without any interest in it any more.

"Baby trumps wife huh?"

When Regina came back later she noticed that Emma hadn't touched her food and the tray was sitting on the bedside table. "Do you feel like something else to eat? I'll go make-"

"No!" Emma jumped in quickly. "Don't go."

"What's wrong?" asked Regina, eyeing her closely.

Emma looked down at the bedspread and frowned. "Nothing, just - will you stay with me?"

_Oh Emma, you're lonely_ , Regina realised. "Of course, dear."

Being mindful of Emma's leg, Regina got into bed next to her. It was warm so Emma only had on a tank and a small pair of shorts to accommodate the thick pad of bandages on her upper thigh. She couldn't tolerate being under the too-hot covers but still, she snuggled close to Regina and nestled her head in her shoulder as they lay together.

"Better?"

"Mmhm."

Regina closed her eyes and leant her cheek against the top of Emma's head. "I thought I'd lost you."

"No way," said Emma casually. "Takes more than that to finish me off."

"Before that," said Regina quietly, referring to their fighting and the months of distance. "I'm sorry I kept you out."

"And I'm sorry I hovered so much."

"I don't like fighting with you," admitted Regina.

Emma sighed. "Me either. We have a bit to work out here. But we're going to get it right eventually. Maybe it's just the other side of the coin. The price for having so much love."

"No refunds," said Regina wryly.

"Yep, I guess I'm stuck with you."

"Yes, you are. And today I've got two needy babies instead of one."

Emma placed her hand on Regina's middle, still a little swollen from pregnancy, and traced out a pattern. There was something bugging at her conscience, remembering how Regina's difficult pregnancy had been worsened by the fear of having a boy and losing not just her child, but her wife.

"Will you tell me something, please?" said Emma.

"What do you want to know."

"When you thought I didn't love you ... when I said we should have another kid... you didn't just do it to make me happy did you? You wanted DJ, right?"

"Yes," Regina closed her eyes again, remembering how happy they had both been back then. "I wanted the baby so much. I was so happy for us when it took and I'll never forget your face when you found out. But when Mr Gold told me of the deal I was sick at the thought of having to tell you that we might lose the baby. I couldn't do it to you. I thought I'd lose you too. When Dr Reed said we were having a girl I thought we were safe."

"Tell me you didn't contact Neal cos you thought it was what I wanted."

"No I-" Regina sighed. "I know you aren't in love with him. I just thought - Henry was so interested in finding his biological father - I thought that it might be nice for the children to be related by genetics as well, since... it doesn't matter, we were going to choose someone anonymous anyway. But I should've told you. I hate myself for keeping it from you. I'm sorry, Emma."

After a short silence Emma spoke in a small voice. "I'm sorry too. Can you ever forgive me?"

"You? For what."

"Making the deal. Trading Henry for DJ."

"Oh." Regina remembered how painful it was, hearing what Emma had done. "I can see now that you made the right choice but at the time I didn't. There are always consequences for making deals and we didn't know what Mr Gold had in mind. I don't know if I would've been strong enough to do it. I'm glad it was you there."

Regina swallowed hard. "I think... if it was me... I would've tried to kill him and lost everything anyway."

Emma realised sadly that Regina was still afraid of herself, she didn't trust herself to be strong enough to cope with another loss. After what happened with Daniel and the path it'd sent her on, she had a right to be afraid. Emma knew that she had changed, she trusted her even if she didn't trust herself... but she desperately hoped Regina would never have to go through it again. Not because she thought it'd send her back to the dark side but because she couldn't bear the thought of her in that much pain again.

"You'd be ok if it happened, you know. I'm not the only thing standing between you and your past. You have changed, please believe that."

Regina considered it, not entirely sure she did believe it. "Maybe."

"But luckily I have no intention of going anywhere so we won't have to find out. You're not going to lose your family. You've changed."

"I still feel like killing people sometimes," joked Regina weakly.

"Parking inspectors? Yeah. Me too, who doesn't."

Regina snorted. "Emma,  _you_  are the one who hands out parking fines here."

"Nah. Only to a certain owner of a black Mercedes who parks wherever she wants as if she owns the place."

"Yes, thank you for that by the way. I would've thought there'd be perks to sleeping with the Sheriff."

"Hey I thought it was totally romantic."

Emma grinned the same way she had that day a few months back when she'd seen it and had the idea. She'd left the fine on her wife's windshield and signed it with:  _'I love you... but this is a loading zone. Unless you're delivering today, that'll be $25.'_

Regina wasn't as amused. "I was only there five minutes! I was on my way to pick up Henry. I just stopped to find a bathroom because of your child constantly sitting on my bladder, which I'm sure you knew full well at the time ... Oh, before I forget - Ethel asked again if Henry wanted to play soccer next season. Did you ask him?"

"Yeah, I asked him but he said he didn't. Training is on the same afternoon as his writing class. You know what? That's _your_  fault, Regina. You raised my kid to be a book nerd."

"As I recall it was a book that led to all this."

"Guess I'll just have to corrupt your son instead. He won't need much help though - he caused an earthquake before he was even born." Emma snorted.

"For which I have yet to forgive you. And by the way, Emma dear," said Regina snootily. "There is one thing for which you will never be forgiven."

"What's that?"

"We have completely run out of baby wipes."

"Uh-" Emma made her 'oh crap' face.

"And  _you_!-" Regina poked her in the ribs with laugh. "You thought it was just me with baby brain being silly over nothing, I know you did. But I will have my revenge one day and you won't even see it coming."

* * *

The classroom was empty. The children were at lunch and since she wasn't on schedule for playground duty today Mary Margaret was busily grading homework at her desk. She'd fallen a bit behind with everything that'd been going on lately, especially helping Regina with babysitting when Emma had come home from hospital needing a bit of care.

Mary Margaret hadn't minded in the slightest though. It'd given her more opportunity than usual to exercise her maternal side in the form of coddling Emma (who usually wouldn't tolerate much) and snuggling baby DJ (who was far more receptive). Her first grandson, Henry, was growing up so fast she could hardly believe it. He looked taller every time she saw him and he was starting to lose his baby face as well.

She checked her phone expecting yet another random text from a bored house-bound Emma but got distracted by the background wallpaper, which was a recent picture of Henry holding DJ. She was flicking through the other photos when she heard a tapping at the classroom door.

Mary Margaret looked up to see her husband's excited face behind the glass window. Wondering what he was up to and why he'd decided to come see her in the middle of the school day, she got up to let him in.

"This is a lovely surprise, David-" Mary Margaret said while opening the door. She stopped upon seeing that he wasn't alone. "Oh. Who is this?"

There was a dusty golden retriever sitting patiently next to David, who was holding the dog's leash.

"Someone very much missed I believe," said David, smiling handsomely. He leant down to twist the dog's collar so she could see the name.

"Oh, it's Leoni!" Mary Margaret clasped her hands and felt the tears mist her eyes. "She's alive after all."

"Yes! I don't know how but she must've got out of the Shelter somehow before it collapsed. I just got the call an hour ago about a hurt dog wandering around the playground."

"She's hurt?"

"No," David shook his head. "The caller must've thought so but she's had that limp forever. Since she was abandoned at least."

"Tim and Henry are going to be so happy to see her." Mary Margaret knelt down in front and gave the dog some love, playing with her ears and patting her.

"I know. I was going to give her a quick bath and then meet them after school."

Mary Margaret gave him a quizzical eyebrow. "Why did you come here first?"

David knelt down in the doorway next to her. "I spoke to my old boss and I thought that maybe, you and me, we might consider adopting her?"

"Oh!"

"If you want to, I mean. Tim can't because his mother is allergic... and Emma and Regina have enough small helpless mammals to keep them busy. So I thought we could keep Leoni at our place. Then she'd be cared for and Tim and Henry could see her whenever they want."

Mary Margaret thought her heart would burst with love for him. "And we'd have a fur baby!"

"Yeah." David patted the dog's head affectionately.

Mary Margaret pecked a kiss on David's cheek. "Thank you. Welcome to the family, Leoni!"

* * *

Emma threaded her hands through Regina's hair, still damp and curling at the ends, and deepened the kiss with a moan. Regina was propped up on one forearm to keep her weight on Emma's uninjured side and using her other hand to graze over bared skin, raising shivers as she went.

Emma broke the kiss and stared into her eyes, trailing the back of her fingers down her cheek.

"Why'd you stop, Emma?"

Emma looked at her wife gently. "Not without you, Gi. It hasn't been six weeks yet. I will not hurt you or risk your health."

Regina frowned and pressed her lips, almost like a pout. "But I want you."

"And I want you to know that this isn't all I want from you."

"Emma, I  _do_  know that and you don't have to wait for me. I will be careful of your leg."

Sudden recall flashed into Regina's face. "Wait, no! That's right, you're relegated to the couch for a month."

Emma scoffed in denial. "No, that wasn't the deal. I said if  _you_  got into danger..."

"No," said Regina in an identical tone. "You almost got yourself killed. The penalty for that is couch. I mean, metaphorical couch. Obviously I'm not going to kick you out of bed when your leg is still healing."

"Hey, a few weeks isn't that long and there's plenty of other things we can do."

Regina smirked and reached over to the bedside drawer to retrieve a piece of paper. "You mean like Archie's homework?"

Emma couldn't keep a straight face, she grabbed the list of intimacy exercises and started reading one of the numbered items out aloud while trying to talk without laughing.

" _Begin this exercise with your partner in the bedroom naked_... I think I like where this is going, but I can not imagine Archie writing this."

"That's because you have no imagination," said Regina, but they shared a laugh knowing that so wasn't true.

"Hey!" Emma complained playfully, leaning up on her elbows. "That thing you like? I totally invented that."

Regina made a slight moue. "Hm definitely have to wait six weeks for that."

Emma grinned rakishly and snaked her hand up her wife's shirt. "You know what? We're gonna do every single one of these dorky exercises. Some of them actually look fun. Except number nine I don't think you or I have the right equipment for that."

"Number seven?" Regina said softly and grabbed a fistful of Emma's curls at the back of her neck, bringing her closer for another kiss.

"Definitely that one first."


	12. Happily ever after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the last chapter of Baby Fever and most likely the end of the FLK series. Thankyou to all readers who have stuck with me this far and thanks everyone for following and commenting my stories. I love to hear from you guys and your comments have helped immensely. I have mixed feelings about this story since a few negative reviews early on kinda dampened my enthusiasm for it and then the inclusion of Neal began to annoy me because of what happened at the end of S2 in the show. I toyed with rewriting this chapter but in the end I've decided to leave it as I originally envisioned it. They say you should never ever write a sequel to a romance because it threatens the idea of the HEA but oh well, rules were meant to be ignored. It's been a while since I finished a multi-chapter story so I'm really looking forward to being able to check the Complete box.
> 
> tldr; Thanks, readers. Enjoy :).

* * *

**_  
_ **   


**_Dear reader_ **

**_We'd love for you to join us to celebrate the birth of:_ **

**_DAVID JAMES 'DJ' MILLS_ **

**_at a garden party for his Naming Day_ **

**_held at 108 Mifflin St Storybrooke_ **

**_at 1pm on Saturday 6/4/2015_ **

**_From Emma, Regina, and Henry_ **

**_PS. There will be no more earthquakes!_ **

* * *

 

The party was well underway when Neal came into the kitchen where Emma was fetching more soft drinks and Regina was unwrapping platters of mini sandwiches.

"How's my two favourite ladies?" he drawled in his characteristic hoarse voice.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Can you say that in everyone else's earshot please? If one more person asks me if I'm the man in the relationship I'm gonna do a runner. Or punch someone in the face. Preferably you."

"Emma dear, if there were a man in our relationship it'd be you," teased Regina to rile her up.

Emma gave an exaggerated pout. "Oh that's so not fair. Just because I don't wear prissy skirts doesn't make me an actual guy you know."

"Yes, I know. I am in fact aware that my wife is a woman," Regina made an obvious show of checking her out.

"Me too," quipped Neal and then chuckled at the filthy looks he got. "Although you are looking more brawny than scrawny these days, Em. Look at your guns!"

Neal poked her in the bicep and got a punch in the shoulder for his trouble.

"Go away and check the campfire," grumped Emma, shoving him out the door to attend to the grill where Henry and David also were.

Regina grinned seductively at her wife, waiting for her to look up but Emma refused to give her the satisfaction and studiously unwrapped more food platters.

"No. Don't even try that look it's not gonna work, Gi," said Emma, avoiding her eyes with effort.

"That's a shame, dear. You know, I do like your arms..."

Regina came up behind her and picked up a handful of blonde hair and let it fall. "...and these pretty blonde curls are quite girly."

Regina's voice dropped to a low whisper in her ear to list the other things she liked.

Emma groaned. "I know what you're up to and it's not going to work. If Mary Margaret catches us having sex in the middle of another party she'll end my existence."

"Cone of Silence?" Regina breathed, and slipped her hand inside the hem of Emma's tank to graze her skin.

"I'm trying to be good here," whined Emma.

"Meet me in the backyard."

* * *

Regina had Emma stand close to her in the middle of the backyard in full view of the party but far enough away from the crowd. She cast two spells around them quickly.

"Is that the Cone of Silence?" Emma asked, seeing the familiar blue bubble surrounding them inside another silvery one.

"Yes. And an invisibility spell," said Regina, admiring her handiwork.

They could neither hear nor be heard inside the silencing spell, but although they couldn't be seen within the invisibility spell they could see outside. But like the Cone of Silence, as soon as someone stepped out of the nested bubbles they would pop and the occupants would immediately be both visible and audible again.

"Are you serious? You mean no-one can hear or see us in here?" said Emma, impressed.

"That's right." Regina smiled evilly.

Emma yelped looking down at her suddenly naked body. "Regina!"

Her head whipped towards the party but no-one in the crowd even glanced in her direction despite the fact that she was now standing completely unclothed in the middle of the backyard.

Regina yelled out Mary Margaret and David's names loudly and waved but still no-one noticed or heard anything. In a normal voice she said to Emma, "See?"

Emma realised with a shocking thrill what her wife was up to and shrieked. "Oh my god, you want us to have sex HERE?! In the backyard. In the middle of the party. In front of half the town? My parents are right there!"

"I know, isn't it terrible of me?" said Regina, raking her eyes over Emma's nakedness.

"Yes! Yes it is!" Emma said breathing hard, and hovering close as though the people could see her unclothed. "It's the most depraved thing I ever heard! This is so incredibly wrong. You can't possibly -"

Emma stopped abruptly, distracted by Regina's clothes disappearing and all she wore now was a wicked smirk.

"Oh my god." Emma shielded her hand over her eyes from the party's direction. "I know they can't see us but it feels like they can."

"How does this feel," Regina ran her hands down her wife's naked curves.

Emma gasped. "What are you doing?"

"I'm speeding this up because you are obviously too shy for this to go on much longer."

"Where did you- oh please don't stop" she begged, quickly heading towards undone. "Oh god, no fair, you're using magic."

But Emma had no intention of leaving her wife behind and she pulled her close, pressing them together and touching her the same way and kissing her deeply. They were standing without the benefit of a wall or door or anything that could provide any leverage or friction and it made it that much more frustrating.

Instinctively Regina moaned loudly and drew back in shock forgetting momentarily that they couldn't be heard.

"Aha not so easy getting a taste of your own magic is it?" Emma managed to say.

"Stop and I'll kill you," groaned Regina burying her head in Emma's shoulder. Her teeth bit at the skin there to stop herself crying out.

"No biting! I was wearing a tanktop," gasped Emma hastily.

She saw the stars explode behind her eyes and held Regina tightly since she had a habit of letting her knees buckle and Emma didn't want to her to fall. Even through the waves of sensations Emma panicked at the thought of them losing control and falling out of the magic bubbles becoming immediately visible. The terrible fear and thrill of being discovered though had heightened her senses through it all.

Once Emma recovered slightly she started laughing uncontrollably in heaving gulps, shiftily stealing looks at the unsuspecting crowd. "I can't believe you did this."

Regina's grinned saucily, baring her perfect teeth, and she waved her hand casually so that their clothes reappeared.

She pecked a quick kiss to Emma's cheekbone and then stepped out of the bubbles with an audible pop. Still no-one at the party noticed their sudden reappearance in the backyard and Regina sauntered back to the crowd resuming her role as the perfect hostess.

Emma had to go hide in the gazebo until she got her laughing under control.

* * *

Emma rejoined the party and made her way back through the crowd towards her mother who was holding DJ on her hip. She walked up just in time to hear Mary Margaret say to a guest:

"... and then Emma's clothes disappeared."

"Mom!" cried Emma horrified.

"What, Emma?" said Mary Margaret innocently. "I was just explaining what happened at the baby shower how Regina's magic started going haywire when she went into labour."

"Oh." Emma sighed in relief that her mother wasn't referring to her more recent naked romp and that she wouldn't need to kill her wife after all. "Wait, why are you telling people that story anyways. Stop embarrassing me!"

Emma took DJ from her and went to find Regina who was pouring herself some punch not far away and obviously heard the whole exchange.

"I hope you're satisfied," Emma said snippily, although she couldn't quite put any real annoyance into it.

"I am, yes." Regina deliberately misinterpreted the question.

"You are so evil today." Emma shook her head slowly in wonder. "What has gotten into you?"

"I think you know."

Emma hid a groan. "Seriously. Where the hell did you come up with that idea? The crazy ideas are usually mine."

"Perhaps you're rubbing off on me," Regina said with fake innocence and took a sip of punch.

Emma rolled her eyes in that 'I've created a monster' kind of way.

They both hushed up when Mr Gold came over to get some punch. Taking a sip he scanned the far side of the backyard and murmured so only they two could hear.

"Interesting use of an invisibility spell, Regina," said Gold casually.

Emma froze in horror and the self-satisfied smirk dropped of Regina's face.

"What," croaked Regina.

Gold smiled amiably. "I taught you to use magic, Regina. Sorry to burst your bubble but do you really think I can't recognise a spell of yours when I see one- or two?"

He leant on his cane and limped away towards Belle, leaving them gobsmacked and staring after him in horror.

"No. No no no." Emma spluttered. "Kill me. Please, just kill me."

Regina got over it much quicker than her wife and took DJ into her arms, planting kisses on his chubby little cheek. "Mommy's silly isn't she, DJ?"

"Yes she is," said Emma, narrowing her eyes.

"I meant you," said Regina, and kissed the baby's hand as he gurgled at her. "We're both Mommy, but DJ knows who the silly one is don't you sweetie?"

* * *

Everyone at the party crowded around the tables when cake was served and the baby got his first little taste of the sugary icing. The crowd included many familiar faces who had known the couple since before they'd even gotten together: Ruby, Granny, Kathryn and Frederick, Archie, Neal, Mr Gold and Belle, Tim Montague and his mother Ethel, Ashley and her family, Leroy and the other dwarves along with Astrid and the Mother Superior... They all quieted and waited expectantly for the speech.

Regina stood next to Emma, holding DJ and swaying him gently in her arms. Henry was next to her with Leoni at his feet.

"Thanks everyone for coming," started Emma nervously. "Mary Margaret asked me to give a speech - she guilted me into it by reminding me that she gave birth to me and didn't get to see my first steps or anything like that. Mothers! Who can say no to them, right? My poor kids have two.

"Um, I think everyone here knows the story - probably too well, actually - but uh, a few years ago when I first came to Storybrooke I didn't know a thing about family. My son Henry came to find me, he brought me back here, then I met Regina... and things went downhill from there. Fast."

The crowd chuckled.

"But the curse finally broke. Regina and I got together not long after that and before I knew it, we were getting married. After 28 years of having no family members I suddenly had more of them than I knew what to do with: a kid, parents, a wife. Some of you knew Regina in the past but I think everyone will agree with me when I say that happiness suits my beautiful wife much better. And Gi, I love you with all my squishy-soft heart."

Mary Margaret started to cry predictably and everyone was touched when Regina hid her smiling face by placing a kiss in the baby's hair.

Emma went on. "So we decided we needed a do-over to make up for what went wrong the first time with Henry -"

"Thanks Mom," Henry laughed.

"- anytime kid. So I had this brilliant idea that we should have another kid and Regina still hasn't forgiven me yet. Sorry for the earthquake stuff by the way. And that's why we're here today with all our family and friends to welcome our baby son, who we have named David James Mills."

Emma leaned over with a hand on her wife's shoulder to press a kiss to DJ's cheek.

"DJ, you've been a troublemaker from the start, just like your Mom - you know which one I'm talking about. So let me give you some great advice: when you're at your grandparents' house don't bother playing hide-n-seek cos they'll always find you, don't take any apples off your Mom's tree, and whatever you do... always remember how much we love you, my sweet little boy."

David held up Mary Margaret's phone and snapped a quick pic of his daughter and her wife gazing lovingly at their baby. Henry appeared in the background just in time to say:

"You're stuck with us now, little bro!"


End file.
